Life With Rachel
by lozlol
Summary: Quinn Fabray has everything; a loving relationship in a two person family, a cute boyfriend, popularity- but everything is about to change. Her mother marries Hiram Berry when Quinn is sixteen. Quinn would be alright with this if it didn't mean getting the package deal of life with Hiram, Judy, Blaine and Puck, Katy AND Rachel- her worst enemy... (NOT faberry romance)
1. Prologue

_**AN: Happy 2015! I hope you guys had a good Christmas!**_

_**So this new story is about Rachel and Quinn's parents marrying and them having to get used to their new family. The title and whole story was inspired by Life With Derek (if you haven't seen any of the episodes then you should check it out!). Also, hope you guys like the picture because I spent like 20 minutes rearranging it so FF wouldn't cut loads of it out! ;) By the way the other chapters will be longer, this is just a prologue.**_

_**Enjoy the story!**_

_**Main Characters**_

_Quinn Fabray- 16_

_Rachel Berry- 16_

_Blaine Berry- 16_

_Noah 'Puck' Puckerman-Berry- 18_

_Katy Berry- 8_

_Hiram Berry- 48_

_Judy Fabray-Berry- 41_

_**Prologue:**_

"Mom, this isn't fair!" Quinn whined. She hated to sound like a spoilt six year old but this was completely unreasonable. How could her mother expect her to leave her perfect life behind? Quinn had everything; popularity, a boyfriend, tonnes of friends, a loving relationship in a two person family- but everything was about to change.

"Lucy-" Judy began.

"Quinn!" Her daughter interrupted. "You know I hate that name, it's the name HE gave me!" Quinn shivered at the thought of the man who abandoned her and her mother.

"Quinn... I'm sorry and I know that this is going to be difficult for you but just for once will you stop being so selfish and realise that Hiram makes me happy," Judy continued.

"I have nothing against Hiram." Quinn spoke with gritted teeth. "He is a lovely man."

"Then honey, what's the problem?" Quinn groaned. She loved her mom, but sometimes she was just so oblivious.

"The kids!" Quinn practically screamed.

Judy just raised her eyebrows in return and gave Quinn a disapproving look. "Now, now Quinnie. There is no need to be rude. Noah, Blaine, Rachel and Katy are all lovely, kind, polite children."

Quinn frowned at the name of her nemesis.

"I don't see how you could have a problem with any of them."

"Puck is alright," and very hot, and a pig, "Katy is very cute, Blaine is alright too, I guess," a bit of a loser but at least he was bearable. "It's Rachel!"

"What's Rachel?" Judy questioned, clearly very frustrated by this point.

She was a diva, selfish, annoying, loud, unpopular, a freak and...

"We just don't get along." Quinn decided was the option which was the least likely to get her killed for insulting her mom's fiancé's daughter. Judy started to ask how Quinn could not like Rachel- after all they'd "only met once or twice" and Rachel was a "beautiful, talented young girl".

"I HATE her!" Quinn tried again.

"Well too bad, because in two months Rachel- and Katy, Blaine and Noah for that matter will be your siblings and we will all be a family. Whether Quinn wants it or not!" Judy added and stormed out of the room, leaving a stunned and speechless Quinn in her wake.

_**Fave/follow/review! xx**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1:**_

_**AN: For the people that asked and anyone else who wants to know, this is NOT a Faberry romance story- it's about them being sisters and having to deal with it, though neither of them want it.**_

_**Thanks for the reviews, faves and follows- I was really, really surprised by the amount of reviews, faves and follows! I don't think I've ever got that many for just the prologue of a story. **__** I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'll try to update once a week-ish.**_

Quinn put on her best cheerleader-winning-nationals fake smile as she stood next to Katy, who was next to Rachel. It was probably a good idea of her mother's to put the youngest girl between them.

Quinn tried to focus on the wedding, but across from her where Hiram stood with his best men- Blaine and Puck- Puck kept winking at her! It frustrated Quinn to no end, and it was all she could do to keep her sweet smile in place, and pretend to be happy. She was a little happy after all, because Quinn didn't want her mom to be alone once she, herself left home, but why did she have to choose to marry into a family containing the most annoying person ever?!

Rachel's infuriatingly happy ear to ear grin was really starting to get to Quinn now so she decided to try to zone out. Unfortunately the first things that came to her head were the memories about why she really didn't want to be here.

Quinn had the most handsome boyfriend in school- Ryan Matthews. Ryan was a senior but liked Quinn even though she was only a sophomore. She'd had to break up with him which was sad because he was serious man candy and made her look even more flawless, but Ryan was the least of her problems.

Quinn had been a cheerleader in middle school and she spent two years of high school climbing her way to the top of the pyramid. At the end of last year she'd been promoted to head cheerleader. Her coach said that Quinn would get the job as soon as her junior year started. Then two weeks into summer vacation Judy dropped the bombshell that she was engaged and that they'd be moving out of Columbus and into Lima. At Quinn's new school she would have to rebuild her reputation- and quickly! By the time that school restarted Quinn would be a junior and would only have two years of high school left!

Then there were her friends. Everyone wanted to be friends with Queen Q but only an elite group were. Her best friends, Harmony and Frida, and Quinn herself, were obviously going to rule the school by the time they were seniors. In their sophomore year they were already in charge of the freshmen and sophomores, and even some of the juniors obeyed them. Why could Rachel and the rest of the Berry's not have moved to Columbus? Quinn had the most to lose, after all.

Quinn was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the old vicar pronouncing "...man and wife. You may now kiss the bride." While everyone else aw-ed all Quinn could think was "damn it. I missed the part where I speak. Now I have to hold my peace!"

_**~~Life with Rachel~~**_

Hiram had let Rachel invite the whole of her loser dork club. Although, some of them were not too bad, actually. There were a couple of girls from Rachel's glee club who were apparently cheerleaders as well. The blonde one seemed lovely and friendly, if a little dumb and hyper too. Her name was Brittany.

The other cheerleader was Latina with dark hair. Her name was Santana. She was rude and rash, but Quinn could see herself being best friends with the two of them.

There were a few guys who were footballers too; Puck and some other boys called Finn, Mike and Sam. Even if Puck was pretty hot, Quinn was not going to date her brother, and Mike was taken and while seeming nice, not her type anyway. That left Sam and Finn. Sam was cute but he was a year younger than them and pretty immature, and that was something she didn't want. That settled it. Finn Hudson would be her new man- and there was something that made her feel even more like he was the perfect choice. As well as being hot, sweet, and the quarterback, Rachel was staring at the tall, gangly boy like he was a gift from Heaven above. Perfect.

_**~~Life with Rachel~~**_

Judy and Hiram had decided to forget their honeymoon and settle in as a family instead. They would have it next summer.

So now they were all going to this new home. Seeing as they couldn't all fit into the same car and neither Rachel nor Quinn had their license yet, Puck drove the three girls and Blaine home and they left the newlyweds alone.

Puck was a dangerously fast driver and Quinn found herself crashing against both Katy and the door everytime they turned a bend in the road. Rachel and Quinn had fought about who should go in the front as soon as their parents left and it took a full ten minutes of Puck enjoying himself at their expense, before he ordered them both into the back and let Blaine sit with him.

They left a full ten minutes after the adults, but they still got to the new house a minute or two before them. When Judy and Hiram did arrive with the keys, they all trooped into the house obediently. This new house was huge; five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, entrance hall, adult living room and a TV room for the family as well. The entrance hall had boots and shoes against the wall, seeing as the Berry's had moved in a month ago, while Quinn and Judy stayed in their house.

"Right boys and girls, let's-" Before Hiram could even finish his sentence Puck and Blaine had taken off up the stairs at a run, and Katy was skipping off to the TV room. How could they all act like nothing had changed?

"Well, Rach, honey, why don't you take Quinn up to your room so she can settle in? While Judy and I have some more...alone time." Hiram said. Rachel gave him an "ew look", then nodded and grabbed Quinn's arm, pulling her up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of sight of their parents, Quinn yanked her arm free and hissed at Rachel to leave her alone, she could find her room by herself.

"Oh no, I want to come to our room and get changed into my PJ's too." Rachel smiled a little frostily.

"A) who in their right mind says PJ's?" Quinn pointed out. "And B) what do you mean OUR room?"

"Wow, I knew you were a cheerleader but I didn't know you were THAT much of an ignoramus." Rachel chuckled under her breath.

Normally Quinn would have retorted with a cruel insult that would have her opponent begging for mercy. But right then she was more occupied with trying to figure out what Rachel was talking about.

"What do you mean?" She repeated.

Rachel laughed. "Were you seriously not listening whatsoever?"

Quinn hissed at her to get to the point.

"Okay, okay!" The other girl said at last. "You- and- I- are- sisters- now- and- we- will- share- a- room." Rachel pronounced every syllable slowly as if Quinn were dumb.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, perfect Quinn Fabray, who had never once lost her cool in Rachel's presence, threw a hissy fit and burst out crying!

"Well," Rachel muttered sarcastically under her breath. "This should be fun."


	3. Chapter 2

_**Main Characters**_

_**Quinn Fabray- 16**_

_**Rachel Berry- 16**_

_**Blaine Berry- 16**_

_**Noah 'Puck' Puckerman-Berry 18**_

_**Katy Berry- 8**_

_**Hiram Berry- 48**_

_**Judy Fabray-Berry- 41**_

_**Chapter 2:**_

_**A/N: Thanks for the faves, follows and reviews. Enjoy the chapter. **_

"Good morning!" Judy, who was seated on Hiram's lap, announced happily as Quinn walked through the doorway. "Sleep well?"

"Not at all." Quinn, who was in a vile mood, snapped at her mother. Just as Hiram was about to ask why not, Quinn elaborated.

Once again, Rachel's alarm had woken her up at the horrific and unacceptable time of 4:55 am. Once again, she attempted to get some more sleep but once again, Rachel's treadmill was running and her "sister" was panting like a worn out mutt. Then after that affair was done, Rachel once again commandeered the bathroom and once again was singing like a banshee in there.

"So, to conclude I did not have a good night."

Blaine and Puck, who had both walked into the kitchen at some point during Quinn's rant, both looked much more wide awake than she felt, and probably also looked.

Quinn's hair wasn't brushed, neither were her teeth. There were huge circles under her eyes and her head hurt.

"Good morning!" Chirped Rachel, her makeup was minimal and her hair was left down. She was wearing a pink tartan skirt, a horrific blue turtleneck with an even worse picture of the most hideous animal known to man (Quinn couldn't even tell what it was) and pink granny stockings paired with her blue Mary Janes.

After gulping down some orange juice that her mother practically jammed down her throat and taking the quick and easy option of a breakfast bar, Quinn made a dash for their ensuite bathroom before Rachel could head back. Catching Puck staring at her butt she muttered "pervert" as she passed him, raised her eyebrows at Blaine's light up bow tie and mocked throwing up as she passed Rachel. But as Quinn reached the stairs she bumped into Katy, dressed in a cute purple dress.

"Hey K." She smiled at the younger girl.

"Good morning Q!" Katy's infectious smile made hers even wider.

"That dress is gorgeous." Quinn nodded approvingly. "Stick with that style, don't let Rachel ruin your fashion sense!" Katy giggled and Quinn headed upstairs.

After a shower, a hairbrush and a toothbrush had all crossed paths with Quinn, she was feeling much better.

She left her hair down but brought some hair ties so that she could put her hair up into a high ponytail for her cheerleaders audition. Quinn had a letter from Coach Kackleca, but she would no doubt need to prove her skills as well. Next, Quinn changed out of her nightie into a red dress with a white bolero. Show school spirit right? Finally she splashed on the right amount of makeup so that she looked neither like a slut nor like a nerd. She looked... Perfect. Operation take McKinley by storm and simultaneously destroy Rachel's life was officially in action.

~~Life With Rachel~~

Oh no. This was not on. Rachel had tolerated Quinn moving in, sleeping in the same room as her and her numerous insults. She had even introduced Quinn to the glee club so that she could make new friends. And how had that bitch repaid her? By storming into RACHEL'S school- RACHEL'S territory- and taking over.

Seated in the front and centre seat in glee club, she had tried to ignore the rest of the club drooling over Quinn and complimenting her excessively, but this was unacceptable.

Rachel had managed to successfully avoid Quinn for most of the day (they only had one class together and sat at opposites sides of the room so they didn't have to communicate) but at lunch, she couldn't exactly avoid the blonde.

Rachel had grabbed her food quickly and tried to dash out of the crowd to sit in her usual place (at the table by the trash cans with the members of glee who were willing to tolerate her). She couldn't escape though. Sat at the Cheerios and Jocks table with a domineering expression and her joint second in commands Santana and Brittany, was Quinn.

The blonde was handed a slushie drink by one of the jocks and directed in the direction of the glee club table. Rachel sat straight in her seat proudly unlike Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and the others who were cowering away. In seconds the green sugary drink was covering her face. It made her eyes sting and her face turn bright red, even though she should be used to this by now.

Quinn turned to the other glee-clubbers. "I hear everyone hates her, even you guys. You should be thanking me for showing that loser her place." Quinn made a hand gesture, starting near her head and dipping down to her waist. "You guys." She indicated their place in social standing while it was at her waist, then dipped her hand down to the floor. "Treasure trail here is sub-zero."

Then with a smirk she was gone. Laughter erupted from the long Cheerio's and Jocks' table that included many tables pushed together.

The glee clubbers all avoided eye contact with Rachel as they exited the cafeteria together. Not one of them remained to help Rachel wipe away the slushie or even gave her a comforting word on the way out. It was clear to them all now. They were losers, but Rachel was a cockroach. If they stayed with her, then that would be their fate, too.

Rachel attempted to quietly sneak out of the cafeteria to the closest girl's bathroom, but she had to pass The Popular Table. As she speed walked past them they did L signs with their hands, hurled abusive words at her or just whispered loud enough for her to hear. Up at the head of the table, Quinn sat, flirting with the quarterback.

~~Life With Rachel~~

Finally, Glee Club. The one place Rachel could feel safe even if everyone there hated her. She knew they weren't cruel enough to slushie her. Insult her, yes. But they would never wish slushies on anyone after going through it themselves.

Rachel sat front and centre, fuming about Quinn Frickin Fabray. Suddenly Rachel's heart came to a stop as Finn Hudson sat next to her, seemingly oblivious to the way the other cool kids were staring holes into the back of his head and the losers were gaping.

"Hey, Rach." Finn smiled innocently.

"Um, uh, well- I-I. Hi." Rachel stuttered, in shock that someone was acknowledging her. She was even more astonished that the person was her dream husband.

Just then a soft storm breezed through the door, flipping her hair as she went. Finn's eyes were off Rachel's face and had moved onto glimpsing at Quinn's skin as her Cheerio's skirt flaps showed her upper leg.

Quinn carefully made her way to the back of the room. As she went her eyelashes fluttered and she made eye contact with every boy in the room. As soon as Quinn, Brittany and Santana were seated, the boys rushed over to them and began gushing as the less confident members inched closer to Quinn. Finn grabbed his chair and pulled it up in front of Quinn's.

In a moment of rage, Rachel exclaimed "what are you doing here Fabray?"

Quinn's eyes travelled down to Rachel's as if she had only just realised the brunette was in the room. And she certainly didn't look like this made her happy.

"Well," She said eventually, after looking Rachel up and down in disgust and muttering a comment into Santana's ear that had both girls practically choking with laughter. "Not that it's any of your business, Little Miss Loser," Cue a resounding snigger from the cool kids and a shyer delayed chuckle from the others. "But I auditioned fair and square like everyone else. Plus I'm a wonderful singer, Mr Schue said so. Also, I may or may not have a crush on someone, and they may or may not be in Dork Club."

Despite having their club and themselves called dorks, every guy in the room let out a little sigh, but the way Quinn just lowered her eyes gave no clue as to which of them she meant. Sighing instead of screaming, Rachel let her anger bubble up inside of her instead of unleashing it. That was until she was walking to the parking area after school and she found Puck and a girl pressed up against Puck's car- practically at third base- and Finn and Quinn making out too.

~~Life With Rachel~~

"Quinn!" Came a roar from the bedroom. Wow, Quinn thought, Rachel might have been a dwarf but she sure had a strong set of lungs!

"What?" Quinn groaned. She and Finn had been making out earlier, Rachel caught them, let out a horrified squeak and then RAN the whole way home. She knew exactly why Rachel was mad, but annoying the Queen Gleek was fun.

"You knew I had a crush on Finn and you stole him from me!" Rachel went to punch Quinn, but the taller girl just chuckled at her puny challenger and petted Rachel's head. However when Rachel growled, Quinn's carefree expression disappeared.

"STOLE him from you? Please, man hands, what dream world are you living in? Let me make this crystal clear." Quinn made hand gestures. "Miniature, glee club, Broadway geek and loser, who wears stupid animal sweaters and slutty skirts. Sexy, masculine, tall, football and basketball playing lead singer. You two. Live. In. Different. Worlds." And with that she crossed over to her side of the room whilst Rachel dodged past her and out the door to hide her imminent tears.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Main Characters**_

_**Quinn Fabray- 16**_

_**Rachel Berry- 16**_

_**Blaine Berry- 16**_

_**Noah 'Puck' Puckerman-Berry-18**_

_**Katy Berry- 8**_

_**Hiram Berry- 48**_

_**Judy Fabray-Berry- 41**_

_**Chapter 3:**_

It was the second month of the school year and life with Rachel wasn't getting any easier for Quinn.

She hadn't wanted anyone to know that she was related to the biggest loser in school- even if not by blood. In all honesty, Quinn knew her secret would come out some time. She had just hoped that it wouldn't be so soon as the third day of term!

Just before Glee Club practise had started that day, Rachel ran over to her and in front of the whole club had told Quinn "Daddy wants to know if you like Breadstix." The whole truth came out there, and Rachel also got a slap on the face.

Anyhow, the fact was that Quinn and Rachel hated each other, everyone accepted it, except (seemingly) their parents. Hiram and Judy had kept the girls sharing a bedroom. It wasn't small but it wasn't big either. The girls had divided it right down the middle with a long skipping rope of Katy's. Rachel's half of the room was mostly pink. She had a pink flowery bed, a corner of cuddly toys, a sparkly CD player, sparkly microphone and stand, posters from Broadway musicals all over her walls and cabinets filled with trophies from singing and dancing competitions.

Quinn's side of the room was red and white- McKinley's colours- as was her bed. She also had cabinets filled with trophies- but Quinn's were for gymnastics and cheerleading. Quinn's posters were of cheerleading magazine front covers (an enlarged one even had her face on it) and some religious ones.

The two of them were so different and had so many reasons why they hated each other, however, Rachel could have bore Quinn if it hadn't been for the day that she saw Quinn kissing her crush, and all the moments that it resulted in.

Rachel and Quinn had one thing in common though, they both always got what they wanted. Although, in this case, only one could win and neither of them were backing down anytime soon.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"Taylor Swift," Mr Schue declared as he scrawled it in his messy handwriting across the board, to a chorus of groans from all the guys. "Someone tell me who Taylor Swift is."

Of course, Rachel's hand immediately shot up, but unlike usually, most of the other girls (excluding Santana- who thought she was too bad for country) also put their hands up.

"Brittany," Mr Schue smiled at the girl who hardly ever spoke in Glee and usually just sat whispering with Santana and Quinn.

"Team Jacob!" Brittany grinned. "He's like, really hot, and San and I went to LA last summer and stalked him cause we both had a dream where we straddled him an-"

The Glee coach was bright red. "Okay! Thank you Brittany. Quinn?"

"Taylor Swift is a country and pop singer who has won multiple awards. She's my personal musical icon." Quinn smiled, everyone gaped at her, surprised that she sounded so much like Rachel.

"Well, she is. Deal with it." Quinn hissed and then switched to her sweet persona again and gave Finn a quick kiss on the lips. Rachel noted that Mr Schue said nothing about the PDA- despite constantly complaining if anyone else kissed in his lesson.

"Taylor Swift is indeed, as Quinn said, very talented. Give me an emotion to do with love." Mr Schue pointed to Finn.

"Uh..." He stared at Quinn, not wanting to say anything wrong. "In love?" Quinn pecked his cheek happily, clearly fine with his choice.

"Taylor has a song for it, an example is Love Story." Then he pointed at Tina who shrugged,

"Angry," before quickly assuring her boyfriend Mike that she wasn't.

"Picture to Burn, Rachel." He pointed to the small teenager.

"Huh?" Rachel turned her head to Mr Schue, she'd been too busy gazing at Finn and Quinn, trying to see which of Quinn's traits that Finn liked that Rachel could replicate.

"An emotion to do with love, please." Mr Schue repeated.

Rachel was silent for a moment as she thought about the best way to put it. "Having a huge crush on someone and yet knowing that they'll never want to date you because they're already dating someone else and would never even like you anyway."

Before Mr Schue could answer, Rachel had leapt up from her seat.

"I will be performing one of Ms Swift's songs that relates to me the most, as of now, if that's alright, Mr Schuester?" Rachel declared passionately as Quinn rolled her eyes at her step-sister's tone.

Mr Schue gave her the go ahead and moved out the way as Rachel whispered her song choice to the band and Brad. She then stood in front of the piano and nodded.

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend,

She's upset, she's going off about something that you said

Cause she doesn't get your humour like I do."

Rachel found herself staring at the power couple as a flashback ran through her mind of when she and Finn were in her room practising for sectionals, as captains of glee club. Quinn had pushed into their room and dragged Finn out for "Prom Royalty practise". Rachel scowled as she remembered.

"I'm in my room, it's a typical Tuesday night,

I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like,

And she'll never know you're story like I do.

"But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts

She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers

Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find

That what you're looking for has been here the whole time."

She was certain that everyone in the room except Finn, who sat grinning and head-banging, knew who this was about. Even so Rachel tried to not stare at Quinn and Finn too much, it wasn't going too well.

"If you could see that I'm the one who understands you,

Been here all along so why can't you see

You belong with me?

You belong with me."

"Oh, I remember you driving to my house,

In the middle of the night.

I'm the one who makes you laugh,

When you know you're 'bout to cry."

"I know you're favourite songs

And you tell me bout your dreams,

Think I know where you belong,

Think I know that it's with me."

Hesitantly, everyone began to clap, however when Rachel looked over to her stepsister, she saw that Quinn was clapping slowly and as soon as they locked eyes Quinn mouthed "It's on."

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn stormed into the family room with Rachel trailing just behind her.

"Me or HER?" Quinn spat out venomously.

Hiram was taking Katy to her hip hop class and Judy was working in the office type area inside their bedroom. Blaine cautiously slipped behind the girls to shut the door (so as not to disturb Judy) as Puck asked the question both boys were wondering.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that RuPaul over here attempted to steal MY boyfriend with that cute baby song in Glee Club!" Quinn raged. Rachel finally spoke up, pushing Quinn out of the way to do so.

"Queen Chastity only starting dating Finn because she knew I liked him and wanted to hurt me! She stole him from me!"

"How could I steal something YOU never had?"

Blaine pushed into the middle before the girls could kill each other but they both just shouted at him to choose again. Reluctantly, Blaine stepped back and then over to Rachel's side. The brunette smirked as Blaine whispered,

"Sorry, Quinn. But twins stick together."

Quinn stared across at Puck, who- for once- was silent.

"Just go." She muttered. "Join your siblings. See if I care." But then Puck crossed over to her side, causing the Berry twins to gasp dramatically. Rachel and Blaine ran out of the room, and Quinn and Puck stood staring at each other.

"They're only as much my siblings by blood as they are yours- you know that right?" Puck said at last.

"No." Quinn responded softly, trying to comprehend what he was saying.

"I'm adopted. My mother didn't want me. She gave me to Mom and Dad when I was just over eighteen months old. She was a crappy mother, apparently she just left me on a door step. She was kind enough to leave my name on a note though." Puck added the last sentence sarcastically. "Noah Puckerman- crappy name. I wanted to change it completely to just Noah Berry when I was ten but Mom and Dad insisted I had to remember my past and not try to escape it- so now it's Noah 'Puck' Puckerman-Berry." Quinn patted Puck's shoulder awkwardly. She'd been idiotic not to ask where the nickname Puck was from, she'd just always accepted that he wanted to be called that- she'd called him Noah once (the first time they met) and he'd attacked her. The only person he let call him by his real name was Rachel.

"But you treat them like real siblings?" Quinn couldn't refrain from asking.

"Yeah. They ARE my real siblings. I lived with Mom and Dad from when I was eighteen months old and the twins had just been conceived- Mom didn't know she could get pregnant, that's why they accepted me and adopted me. But they ARE my parents. They kept me even when a month or two later they found out Mom was pregnant. They cared for me just as much as their blood children. I broke down at Mom's funeral."

"How- how long ago was that?" Quinn whispered.

"Three years after Katy was born, I was thirteen, the twins had just turned eleven. Dad was broken, I tried to be the strong one but-" Puck's eyes were brimming with tears but they didn't fall. He just stopped talking and slouched down on the couch.

Quinn didn't say sorry. It wasn't her fault and she knew it would only annoy Puck. "I just um- could you tell me one more thing." Puck gave a barely visible nod as his response. "Why did you side with me?"

Quinn turned to the door after a long pause, assuming Puck wasn't going to answer, but then she heard his voice. "Because I understand."

And he did. He could only ever draw the Berry family tree, never his biological one. He'd hated Blaine and Rachel when they were born because he was used to getting all the attention. He felt like his parents didn't want him, but he grew to love the twins. He knew that Quinn would slowly start to feel like she belonged here, just as he had. Eventually.

_**Next Time: Rachel and Quinn's rivalry continues, but when Katy needs BOTH of her sisters, will they be able to get along to help her?**_

_**AN: I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Review/fave/follow!**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4:**_

_**AN: Hey. Thank you so much for all of the review/faves/follows! Please keep them up, it really inspires me to write quicker.**_

_**I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. Just need to say that this is NOT a pregnancy story (a guest asked).**_

_**Replies to guests:**_

_**GRITSgirl: That's a really cool idea and I'll definitely try to work it in if that's okay?**_

_**Guest: Thanks so much for the long review! 1) NO- this isn't a pregnancy story. 2) Their parents are just married and so very in love and focussed on each other- but something happens next chapter, so their parents punish them. 3) It will take quite a while for them to get along- but I promise that they do in the end. **_

"But I'm so tired!" Blaine complained as his sister attempted to drag him into the games cupboard (which she'd claimed as their homebase) to scheme and plan.

"No excuses." Rachel snapped.

"But I've had three tests, been to glee club, debate club and spent a majority of my lunch break helping Kurt decide whether he should wear a blue or a red scarf to our date on Friday. It's now almost nine pm, Rach. I need to relax or I'm going to collapse."

"And this won't take long!" Rachel lied.

With a huff Blaine let her push him into the large roomlike games cupboard. "So what's the plan?" He asked after Rachel finished raving about what a master plan it was.

"I don't exactly have one yet," she admitted. "But I guarantee that it will be a master plan!"

"Why don't you just find out what his interests are and take an interest in that too," Blaine suggested. "That way next time you see him you'll actually have something to do rather than gawp." Rachel ignored the sort-of-insult and hugged her twin instead.

"Eek!"

"Ow!" Blaine clutched at his aching eardrums.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rachel dashed out of the games cupboard, somehow managing to step on both Blaine's foot and his arm, as well as kicking his face.

"You're welcome," Blaine groaned to the thin air as he slumped back onto a beanbag.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn's eyes slowly travelled upward from her satisfying doodles of her tiny stepsister's head being bitten off by a huge blonde maned lion when she heard Sue's voice. The coach had summoned her over the megaphone to, in Sue's own words "ditch class" and come to her office. Quinn had been sitting here for almost half an hour, waiting.

"Q," Sue began, "I know how hard it's been on you practically running the cheerio's whilst I've been intent on trying to destroy the Glee Club. So I've decided to hire you a second in command."

Those words made Quinn's stomach turn. Second in command. That meant trying out someone new alongside herself to see who would be the better captain. She suspected it would happen, but she'd hoped to wait at least a year so she could gain the confidence of all of the others so that they'd all side with her.

"Thank you for your concern, Coach Sylvester," Quinn paused as she struggled to find the best way to phrase this. "But I'm perfectly fine. The stress motivates me. And anyway, I have Santana and Brittany as my unofficial second in commands'." Immediately as soon as she'd said it, Quinn knew it had been the wrong choice. The second in command was obviously Santana, that scheming bitch, to pretend to be on Quinn's side and then stab her in the back, how did she think she could get away with that?

"Well Q, I'm afraid this isn't your choice. For your co-operation through what is obviously going to be a very... Traumatic time, I am offering you a free all expenses paid spa day with tanning salon passes. You can spend the day bonding with Miss Berry over here."

Quinn's mind had been daydreaming about spas and new hairstyles when those words cut through her paradise.

"What?"

A smiling Rachel Berry stepped into the room, decked in a cheerios outfit no less, and chanted with claps "M-C-K-I-N-L-Y! I said McKinley! MK! McKinley! Woo!" Rachel finished with a flip straight into the splits, pausing one second before jumping up and, with that signature grin, before taking a seat next to Quinn.

"How was it?" She smiled as if they weren't in a war right then, Quinn knew the only thing she could do was grin even wider and yet remind Sue how much better of a cheerleader she was than Rachel.

"Super! Bit of a sloppy flip and a lazy chant, but excellent for a beginner."

Sue tutted. "Now, Q, there's no need to be mean. Gleek, here comes with grade eight gymnast skills, all the perfect pieces for a performer, jazz and ballet training as well as leadership skills. And I think the team will do well with some healthy blood spilling rivalry."

As Sue left the room, Quinn grabbed Rachel's shoulders and pushed the brunette up against the wall. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you want everything that's mine? You try to steal my boyfriend, then you try to steal my spot on the Cheerio's-"

Rachel snorted. "Ha, you're one to talk. You pushed your way into my school, reversing the - alright, admittedly slow- progress- I was making with Finn, making me feel uncomfortable in the one place I feel like I belong. What's even worse, you stole my BROTHER!"

Quinn shook her head. She had definitely not done that.

"You have! He likes you better than me!" Rachel grabbed her bag, getting ready to leave, however Quinn felt a strange urge and pulled Rachel back,

"You're still his little Jewish American princess, and Katy's still his little baby girl, he just also has a Queen Q as well now."

Rachel gave Quinn a curt nod, but she didn't look as upset as she left as she had before Quinn had spoken to her.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn rolled over in bed to look at the alarm clock. 2am. Just less than three hours until Rachel's damn alarm clock would ring and wake her up, that was of course if she managed to get to sleep. She'd tried every technique she knew but she just couldn't. Judging by the fact that Rachel's loud snores weren't penetrating the only calm time she got these days, the brunette was awake as well.

Suddenly a soft scream came from next door. Both girls bolted up and ran into Katy's room. Rachel shook her awake as Quinn took Katy's hand. When the youngest sister woke up she let out a little scream before burying her face in Rachel's chest and clutching Quinn's hand in a death grip. After exchanging a quick look it was decided- Rachel and Quinn lay on their sides on either side of Katy, on her bed. Thankfully, all three were skinny, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to squeeze into the bed.

"Do you want to tell us what's wrong Katy-bug?" Rachel gently stroked Katy's cheek. Katy shook her head violently and rolled over so she was facing Quinn.

"K, it helps if you tell Rach and me. We're not gonna tell anyone else." The blonde said softly.

"Why aren't you fighting?" Katy asked as she rolled over once more so that she was lying on her back. "You guys are always fighting." Quinn wasn't sure what to say to that- it was true, of course- but she didn't want to upset Katy.

"Q, you can tell me. I'm not gonna tell anyone else." She whispered with a small smile on her face as she echoed Quinn.

"Cheeky," Rachel tickled Katy in her ticklish spot- her stomach- effectively giving Quinn more time to think. But as soon as Rachel stopped tickling her, Katy looked over to Quinn. "So?..."

"Cheeky," Quinn poked her softly in the stomach before answering the question. "I guess Rachel and I aren't fighting right now because we want the same thing- for you to be happy."

"But you both want Finn," wow, that little girl knew a lot. Quinn was certain their parents didn't even know that.

"We're fighting for Finn, but we're not fighting for you. We don't mind which of us you like better, we just both want to help you with your nightmares." Rachel continued for her.

Katy nodded and was silent for a long time. The girls could hear her steady breathing and assumed she was asleep but when they tried to get out of the bed she pulled them back.

"In my nightmare, you two were fighting, and I tried to get you to stop, you wouldn't stop. You both were bleeding. And then you both fell down." Quinn and Rachel exchanged a worried glance before snuggling up to Katy and whispering that it would never happen.

"We're not fighting anymore, not in front of Katy at least." Quinn said. Katy had eventually fallen asleep and it was now 4am. Everyone was in their own bed.

Rachel nodded her agreement and then collapsed with exhaustion.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Beep, beep, beep.

Rachel, for once, hit snooze on her alarm clock as Quinn, who had managed ten minutes of sleep, let out a sound similar to that of a cat being strangled.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5:**_

"Don't saints and pilgrims have lips too?"

"Yes pilgrim, they have lips to pray with." She said.

He took one step closer. "Well then, I'll pray for you to kiss me. Please, Saint, grant my prayer."

Rachel smiled slightly before loudly whispering, "Saints do not move, even when they grant prayers."

Finn moved towards her in one swift movement, leaning down to her height. Their lips were so close- all he had to do was-

"Cut." Yelled Quinn. Finn straightened up as Rachel ran to the edge of the stage and jumped off of it, before grabbing her water bottle and taking a swig. She did this partly because she was thirsty, but mainly because she wanted to hide her furious face from the other two.

The three of them had been put into a group for drama together. The assignment was modern Shakespeare and they'd chosen Romeo and Juliet. Quinn was the director and Rachel and Finn were the actors. What could go wrong?

Well, they'd rehearsed this scene about ten times that lunch break, and every time, just as Finn and Rachel's lips were almost touching, Quinn would call cut. After that she would praise Finn and do nothing but criticise Rachel's flawless performances. It was beginning to really make Rachel mad now. She was certain that any second, she was about to blow.

"Come on, Quinn!" She faintly heard Finn's voice and tuned back into the conversation. "Lay off Rachel a bit, would you? She's a great actress, now you're just making stuff up." He smiled a little nervously at Rachel as Quinn's eyes flashed with anger.

"Don't you DARE defend HER! I'M you're girlfriend. SHE is nothing!"

Rachel raised her hand mockingly, "uh, you do realise I'm right here?"

Quinn ignored her. "Finn! Why aren't you answering me? You're not confirming anything I'm saying!"

Finn shrugged, trying to act calm. "I didn't know I was supposed to be."

"Of course you are!" Quinn screeched . "Because otherwise I'll just take it that you're on HER side."

"Woah. Scary Quinn." Finn noted as he backed away slightly from the blonde in front of him who was bubbling over with rage.

"Help," Finn mouthed in Rachel's direction.

She really was going to regret this.

"Quinn, I believe you have not yet noticed that in fact, Finn didn't want to kiss me. He jerked away as quickly as possible!"

Quinn turned her laser eyes on Rachel for a moment, then dismissed her with a hand gesture. "Shut it dwarf."

"Quinn,"

"What?" Quinn snapped. Both the girls turned to Finn, who somehow managed to look calmly angry, happy and sad, and nervous yet tired.

"We're done."

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

As Rachel searched the drama cupboard, which was full of costumes and props, for their group's drama performance props that afternoon- her mind flashed back to the events of the previous day.

At lunch they'd been rehearsing their modern day Romeo and Juliet piece for drama when Finn confronted Quinn about why she kept insulting Rachel's performance. Quinn had then began to berate both of them until Finn interrupted her and said he was breaking up with her.

Both girls' eyes had gone wide as he explained how he was sick of her rude and mean attitude. How she wasn't the same beautiful, sweet girl he'd fallen in love with in the fall.

Quinn had just stood there after Finn left, staring at the spot where he had been. Despite despising her, Rachel carefully led Quinn back to her lesson, though she'd avoided her all day.

That afternoon Finn came over to talk to her.

"Please," he'd begged for the fourth time and eventually she gave in, she leant up as he leant down and their lips met in the middle. They'd kissed in a quiet spot but she had a feeling at least one person had seen them, and gossip spread like wildfire in this school.

So she had slept over at Mercedes'. Rachel knew a storm was coming her way soon. She could do nothing but try to hold it off for as long as possible.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn spent that night lying awake, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep, only threw up what she ate, what was wrong with her?

She had only started dating Finn to infuriate Rachel, yes. Somewhere along the line though, she fell in love. But surely it wasn't just her heart breaking? She didn't love Finn THAT much. She'd never loved ANY guy THAT much. Not since she'd lost her trust in that monster, Russell Fabray.

She'd somehow managed to lie in late (even though she didn't sleep) without Rachel's annoying alarm, huffing noises as she worked out and ridiculously high notes that made the glass on the windows tremble. On the plus side, she'd had a lot of time that night to plan, and Quinn had decided on her revenge.

Revenge?, others might say. Aren't you over reacting? But Quinn wasn't. Because yesterday after school, she had spotted Finn and Rachel KISSING! The nerve of that girl!- swooping in before the body was cold. She needed teaching a lesson.

Quinn changed into her cheerleaders uniform that morning, but brought one of her dresses- the blue and white one with spots- in her bag.

"Quinn," her mother's rarely used 'strict voice' was the one that came from the kitchen. Ut oh. Had Rachel finally revealed something? Quinn could get them both in trouble though. The horrible nicknames she gave Rachel easily amounted to the brunette's rude comments about dumb blondes and airheaded cheerleaders (despite Rachel now being one herself). She'd only slushied Rachel once- if this was what her mom and Hiram had found out about then she could say it was an accident- no witness would dare go against her. Or if it was the time that-

Judy marched into the room with her hand on her hip. "It was your turn to do the washing, young lady." Quinn raised her eyebrow just slightly. That was all this was about? "AND Katy says you're still fighting with Rachel."

Oh.

"Why don't you two get along?"

Quinn spotted Puck and Blaine gesturing to her over her mother's shoulder. "I have to get the bus!"

"I'll drive you in," Judy guided her over to a kitchen chair.

"Help!" Quinn gestured to Puck, he was supposed to be her ally.

He shrugged as a sorry and the two brothers were almost out the door when Judy added, "I'll give you guys a lift too."

Blaine thanked her gallantly then tried to refuse, but ultimately gave in. Then Katy came skipping into the room with Hiram on her toes before Judy could continue, but it didn't take long for them each to embrace her and for Hiram to peck Judy's forehead and tell her how much he loved her (as Puck made gagging sounds in the background).

After Hiram and Katy had left, Blaine and Puck went into the family room to play on the x-box. Dammit. No more distractions.

"Quinny, you know you can always talk to me. We've always had that, even when we had nothing else." Judy's eyes looked deep into her daughter's eyes. "Why aren't you and Rachel getting along?"

"I-" Quinn stopped herself. She'd almost told her mother. "Why do you even care?"

"Of course I care, why wouldn't I care?"

"You hardly even notice me now! I bet if I just disappeared you wouldn't even notice. You have two much better daughters now. And two sons, and a husband." Quinn's eyes were tear filled but she wouldn't let them fall.

"Not at all-"

"Stop lying to me!"

They sat in silence for a long time and then it was time to get in the car. It was an uncomfortable journey spent in utter silence- Rachel and Quinn's arguing would have been better.

As soon as they got to McKinley, Quinn hurried out of the car before her mother could even say goodbye, followed by Puck (who quickly thanked Judy) and then Blaine (who took a long time chatting to her).

Puck jogged over to catch up with Quinn. "What's up?"

"Rachel."

"Wanna ditch with me?"

Quinn gave him a confused look. "Huh?"

"Ditch school." Puck clarified. "I'm probably just gonna go sit under the bleachers and flirt with the Skanks, but you can come if you want."

Quinn shook her head. "I've got a perfect attendance record to keep up if I wanna be prom queen, and pass my exams, and get out of this loser town." She felt slightly guilty when she saw a sad look on Puck's face- but it vanished almost instantly- as did her guilt.

"I should probably come to class too," Puck sighed, rolling his eyes. "I don't wanna fail my S.A.T's and have to take my senior year for the third time."

So the two of them (along with Blaine-who had just come out of the car) headed into the school.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

After Cheerio's practise (which Quinn noted Rachel was mysteriously absent from), Quinn changed into the blue and white dress with spots she'd brought in her bag and combed her hair out of it's high ponytail so that it fell in waves around her shoulders- Finn had always said he liked it like that. Then she hurried to the drama department cupboard where she'd just texted Rachel to go and get the props and costumes.

"Rachel," Quinn said sweetly. The brunette, shocked, spun around and banged her head. "Oh! Are you alright?"

"Um, yeah, I guess." A stunned Rachel stumbled backwards, so Quinn helped her onto one of the stools being used for the freshmans' production of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

"You really should be more careful, sis." Quinn's words were loving but her voice had an undertone that made Rachel cautious. And she had a right to be. For as Rachel rubbed her head, Quinn and her damn cheerleading reflexes grabbed the spare keys from the table, sped out of the door and locked it.

"Hey!" Rachel's muffled cries and pounding against the door were futile. With a grin, Quinn put the keys in her pocket and headed to the auditorium.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Where were they? Finn paced up and down waiting for Rachel and Quinn to arrive. He was in his drama class watching everyone else's performances on the auditorium stage, and these grades counted for a quarter of the years' grade. He could understand if Quinn was still furious and refused to come watch him and Rachel kiss- even if this time it was only for the stage- but why wasn't Rachel here? She was never late. And the group performing now was the last one before it would be their turn.

Suddenly, Quinn burst through the stage door and hurried over to him.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" She looked like she was about to hug him, but then she stopped herself. "Rachel texted me and said that she couldn't make it. So I had to go get changed and that's why I'm late."

"Why isn't she coming?" Finn appeared not to have heard the last sentence- only the part about Rachel.

Quinn shrugged convincingly. "I don't know, she didn't say. I think she might be feeling sick. Still no excuse to skip this."

"But she was fine this morning," Finn gave her a suspicious glance. "Why didn't Rachel text me?"

"Miss Berry, Mr Hudson, and Miss Fabray, please." Their drama teacher, Ms Chatman, called out before Finn could question Quinn any longer.

"We will be performing a modern day version of a few scenes from Romeo and Juliet. Ms Chatman, I was the director for our group, as you know." Quinn marched onto the stage, Finn following behind her, his doubtful face now masked by his stage one. "But Rachel has failed to show up so I will be playing Juliet instead."

"Hold up," Finn cut in, just before Ms Chatman could say anything. "Rachel didn't 'fail to show up' she's feeling sick." Quinn cursed her explanation now. But how else could she have explained this without coming on in her Cheerio's uniform, which wouldn't work with the fact that their piece was about the love between a jock and a geek, and the world's

"Still," Ms Chatman declared. "The theatre pardons no-one." She smiled at Quinn. "Dear, tell your sister that the Broadway will not allow her to be off just because of a mere stomach bug." Quinn fought back the urge to say that the constant piece of gum on her shoe wasn't her sister, and simply nodded instead. "Excellent," Ms Chatman clapped with excitement, "Go ahead."

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"Hey!" Rachel kicked and pounded at the door, and screamed at the top of her voice. But nothing was working.

With a groan, Rachel realised she wouldn't be getting out of her anytime soon. And then without her permission her mind flashed back to why she began to hate Quinn.

_"Guys! Get down to the family room!" Hiram shouted._

_It took about ten minutes for him to gather all four kids in the room and get their attention. Katy was cuddling into his shoulder, Puck was texting his three girlfriends and once, and the twins were both also on their phones- but looking at the Broadway news._

_"Phones down," Hiram ordered. They didn't respond so eventually he had to pry the phones out of their hands and put them in a box on the floor._

_"Dad!" Chorused three grumpy voices but Hiram just shook his head._

_"This is important. It's going to change all of our lives." That got their attention. "Now, the thing is, we're moving."_

_"We're moving?" Blaine gasped as Rachel cast a confused glance at Hiram._

_"Why?"_

_"You know that nice lady I've been dating-"_

_Rachel and Blaine nodded as Puck said "the hot blonde?"_

_"No. The gorgeous, kind blonde who has a name. Judy."_

_"I have no idea then." Puck shrugged. Blaine punched him lightly and then both boys turned to their father again._

_"I'm getting old." Hiram said and it was only then that Rachel began to notice the grey in his hair, the lines on his forehead. "And I don't want to be alone."_

_"You're not alone." Katy spoke for the first time. "You have Puckster, Blainey, Rachey and me."_

_Hiram pulled her onto his lap and looked at all his kids in turn as he spoke. "You know how much I love you guys. And you're always going to come first. But when you've all gone off to college or Broadway, or wherever life leads you... I'm not gonna be by myself."_

_They all stared at him, trying to read between the lines. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to say it like this. "Judy and I are getting married." Hiram smiled softly._

_It was like dominos, Puck reacted, then Blaine, then Katy, Rachel didn't at all._

_"Go Dad!"_

_"Yeah..."_

_"Is she our new mommy?"_

_Rachel seemed to come alive when she heard that. "NO! I can't believe you'd do this to us, to Mom!"_

_She pushed past her twin's comforting embrace, her older brother's calming words, her little sister's innocent confusion, her father- her traitorous father._

Of course, she didn't feel like this now. Rachel understood that her father needed someone to be with when they'd all left the nest, she understood that Judy was a lovely woman, and she wasn't trying to replace her mother- but she hated Quinn nonetheless.

She'd disliked Quinn ever since the two families went out to dinner and the blonde hadn't hesitated to hold back her laughter at Rachel's outfit, as well as glare at her from across the table, but the first time she'd hated Quinn had been when she'd felt the Fabray's were pushing into her family.

Rachel truly had tried to be nice at first; she'd smiled at Quinn, introduced her to the glee club at the wedding, but this- stealing Finn, locking her in a cupboard, and trying to get away with it- wasn't on. It was time for Rachel to show Quinn that the Berries didn't take kindly to being stepped on.

Of course, she'd have to get out of this cupboard first.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"Help!" Rachel screamed at the top of her voice as she heard footsteps. Then came the oh so welcome sound of the key turning in the lock. As soon as it opened, Rachel was ready to speed off to the auditorium, but then she saw that Judy and Hiram were standing with the janitor.

"Sweetheart!" Judy exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Quinn locked me in!" Rachel declared before she could stop herself, then covered her mouth. "I mean-"

"It's alright, honey," Hiram hugged his daughter quickly. He kept talking to her but turned his body to face Judy's. "Go to class."

Quinn was going to hunt her down, and then murder her! "But-"

"Go to class." Hiram repeated. So, Rachel ran down the halls and through to the backstage door of the auditorium. As she entered she heard both Finn's and Quinn's voices and froze.

"Saints do not move even when they grant prayers." Quinn was saying, her voice dripping with seduction. Finn didn't hesitate as he swooped down and their lips met, and Rachel didn't mean to- but somehow she stumbled onto the stage and let out a scream.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"Are you sure you're okay?" Finn kissed her on the head gently.

Rachel smiled back. "I'm fine." It was enough for her to know that Finn truly liked her for her, and not the Cheerio's uniform that came with her now that she'd joined.

He'd admitted that he'd always liked her earlier in the conversation. "From the first time I saw you- in kindergarten." Finn had explained. "You skipped in with your hair braided, wearing one of your signature animal sweaters, a plaid skirt, and a huge grin. But then as I got older I started to conform to the stereotype and I was terrified of losing my popularity. I was stupid. So that's why I had the confidence to ask you out- when you put on that uniform- but I always wanted to."

She smiled at him again before saying goodbye, then turning and heading into the auditorium to grab some sheet music she'd left in there.

"So," said an oddly calm voice that made Rachel jump- again. Quinn was back in her Cheerio's outfit and looking ready to kill. "You told on me."

Rachel's eyes flickered up to Quinn's for a moment, but then she looked down again. "Notice anything different about me?" Rachel asked.

Quinn glared at her. "No. You're as annoying as always.

"I'm not wearing my uniform." Rachel turned her head away before she continued, "I quit the Cheerios."

"You did what?" Quinn raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "That was you're only way into being popular."

Rachel snorted. "I wasn't even popular as a cheerleader. They all loved you and hated me."

Quinn nodded her head in agreement. "I'm glad everything's back to how it should be. You at the bottom, and me at the top."

Rachel chuckled again. "I only joined to upset you. But I don't really enjoy causing you pain, Quinn."

"I hope you don't expect me to say I don't enjoy causing YOU pain," Quinn said. "Because I do."

"No." Was all Rachel replied as she turned to go.

"Wait," Quinn added. "You two are together now, right?" Rachel didn't reply before she headed off the stage to go home. But her silence answered Quinn's question.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6:**_

_**Guest: Sorry about that but Finchel's endgame in this story. I'm going to give Quinn a new love interest in this chapter though **_

"AAH!" A scream reverberated around the house, and soon Puck, Blaine and Quinn had found the source, Rachel Berry- in front of a tiny spider.

"Seriously?" Puck said. He grabbed a piece of paper and used it to pick up the spider and dump it out of the window.

"See, this is why I hate you, wimp." Quinn couldn't refrain from snapping.

"Hate's an awfully strong word, Quinn." Rachel retorted, a sickly sweet smile on her face.

"Well, that and your goody-goody attitude." Quinn murmured- suddenly she was on the floor.

A now scowling Rachel let out a laugh before asking, "How's that for goody-goody?"

Before anyone could stop them the girls were locked in a fist fight, claws tore at skin, legs kicked at weak spots, fists punched thin air. Blaine couldn't stop them. Puck couldn't stop them. All of a sudden Hiram and Judy ran into the family room, Katy on Judy's hip.

"Stop it!" The eight year old sobbed, and the older girls looked up, only to see Judy and Hiram who both had expressions like thunder.

"Quinn." Judy called out angrily at the same time as Hiram roared "Rachel!"

"I'm so sorry Daddy," Rachel tried to hug her father, but he pushed her away and exchanged a look with Judy.

"Judy and I will be in the study, deciding on you two's punishment." Hiram said.

"Sit down on the sofa and don't move." Ordered Judy. "Katy's going to stay here with you two, because that seems to be the only way to get you to stop fighting."

Their parents left the room and Rachel and Quinn looked down at the floor, both ashamed, as Katy wandered over to the sofa and planted herself between the two of them. Blaine and Puck, who were sitting on the other side of the room, had clearly given up on the alliances because neither had stood up for them. The boys just turned on the Xbox and started playing a soccer game.

"You guys said you were gonna stop fighting." Katy reminded them. It was difficult for the girls to look at her and not feel guilty, because while she was eight years old, she was more the size of a six year old, and her voice was high pitched and adorable. So they said nothing. With a look of determination, the little girl crawled onto Quinn's lap and looked up at her stepsister's face. "Why can't you guys be friends?"

"I don't like Rachel." Quinn said slowly.

"And I don't like Quinn." Katy looked over to her older sister as Rachel spoke.

"Why not?"

"Katy," Blaine said, pausing the game and picking her up. "Wanna watch ICarly reruns?"

"Yeah!" Katy squealed. So Blaine dropped her back in between the two sixteen year old girls and forced a reluctant Puck to switch the TV off the Xbox and back onto regular TV.

Rachel looked over to Quinn and their eyes met. "Life ruiner," she mouthed at Quinn.

"Idiot," Quinn mouthed back. "We're dead. Cause. Of. You."

"5, 4, 3, 2..." Just as the countdown on the theme song stopped, Judy and Hiram marched into the room. Two parts of a terrifying parent machine.

"Woah, that was good timing." Puck laughed, then stopped when he saw the serious expressions on their face. "It's weird not being the one who's in trouble this time." He grinned and then wandered over to Katy to watch the TV with her.

It was a weird sensation, being in trouble, Rachel decided. She could hear everyone else only as background noise but Hiram's and Judy's voices were clear as day as they announced the sentence together.

"You're both grounded," Judy declared.

Hiram turned to them and added, "For a month."

"A month?" The girls roared together.

"But Mom!" Quinn pleaded. "I've hardly even done anything. SHE started it! And I have that Cheerio's slumber party next weekend! It's really important to me."

"Sorry Quinn," Judy didn't sound sorry.

"Dad!" Rachel turned with puppy dog eyes to her father. "I'm going round Finn's-" she paused at the look of anger Quinn gave her, "uh... And Kurt's to hang out with Kurt tomorrow."

"She's lying," Blaine put in. "Kurt and I are going out on a date tomorrow and she wants to 'hang out' with Finn."

Rachel launched herself at her twin,

but she was pulled back before she could kill him. "You are the most-" Blaine covered her mouth before she could insult him.

"Language," he tutted, it was all she could do not to punch him.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn was bored. She was precisely two days through a month of being grounded and there was nothing to do. Even in Columbia she hadn't been a stay at home girl, sure she hung out with her mom on weekday evenings but Friday nights and weekends were for socialising. She was a queen bee, it was just what she was meant to do. Quinn always had a date to go on, a slumber party (or just a regular party ) to attend, a routine to perfect. Now she was stuck at home. On a Saturday.

Puck was out on a 'date'- by this point he was probably having sex- Blaine was hanging out with his boyfriend, Kurt, and Judy and Hiram were on a date.

Quinn and Rachel were supposed to be babysitting Katy, who'd been instructed to inform the adults if either of her sitters snuck out. Right now, Rachel was cooking dinner and Katy was 'helping' her, whilst Quinn thought about how much she wished she was anywhere else.

"Quinn!" Rachel shouted up the stairs. "Dinner's ready." Quinn was about to head downstairs when her phone buzzed.

_U'd better find a way outta dat grounding soon. U haz competition._

_San._

_What? Who?_

_Q_

She texted back immediately but she had to drop her phone on the bed and hurry to the kitchen when Katy screamed that she was going to eat Quinn's food.

"...but mommy and daddy say that telling the truth is always good." Katy was saying as Quinn walked into the room. Rachel's face took on a constipated look when she heard Katy refer to Judy as Katy's 'mommy', but she covered it well.

"Well sometimes the truth isn't always best." Rachel said awkwardly.

"Like when?" Katy asked, intrigued.

"Tell you what, I'll tell you if you eat all of your pie, potatoes AND veg." Katy groaned at Rachel, but nodded her head decisively and started to stuff down her food.

"Slower, K," Advised Quinn. "You don't want to choke." Both Quinn and Rachel giggled as Katy made a big show of eating in slow motion, and then went back to a more normal speed. "No need to be cheeky." Quinn tutted and shook her finger up and down like her mother had often done. Katy giggled at that, and even Rachel had to stifle her laughter.

"Tell me!" Katy ordered as soon as she's finished her meal. "When is it 'kay to not tell the truth."

Rachel, who'd clearly been deciding herself over dinner, launched straight into it. "Well, sometimes if you don't want to hurt someone's feelings. For example if Mercedes- who's one of my friends,"

"One of her few friends!" Quinn whispered to Katy, causing Rachel to glare at her.

"One of my MANY friends," Quinn snorted but said nothing else as Rachel continued, "If Mercedes came into school wearing a really ugly outfit, and asked me what I thought, I'd probably say I liked it to avoid hurting her feelings."

"You can't talk," Quinn inserted. "You wear the most ugly sweaters imaginable. Right K?"

Katy shook her head. "Rachel's sweaters are vintage and very pretty." Then she got out of her seat and whispered to Quinn (far loud enough for Rachel to hear), "I'm lying so I don't hurt her feelings. I don't want Rachey to be sad."

Quinn winked. "I'll keep your secret." As Katy skipped out of the room, Rachel and Quinn locked eyes and both giggled.

"Right, I'll be upstairs then," Quinn announced, pulling out her chair.

"Um, no!" Rachel shook her head. "I made dinner, it's your turn to load the dishwasher."

"But I have important business to deal with," Quinn argued. Her mind was on the cell phone in her bedroom.

"It'll only take a few minutes, it's not a big deal Quinn!"

"If it's not a big deal then why won't you do it?"

"Cause I spent an hour and a half making dinner while you texted your dumb cheerleader friends and your new blonde boyfriend!"

Quinn blushed, she hadn't realised anyone had noticed. "Sam isn't my boyfriend! I mean, he's a year younger than us and he spends most of his time doing horrendous and insulting impressions. Why would I want to date him?" Rachel was struggling to hold back her laughter. "What?" Quinn snapped.

"I never said I thought you were dating Sam," Quinn blushed as Rachel continued. "But from that reaction it's clear you are."

"Fine," Quinn admitted after a long pause. "I'm dating Sam. What will it take for you to keep it a secret?"

Rachel shifted in her seat. After a moment she got up from her seat and gradually wandered into the kitchen, Quinn's eyes following her. "Load the dishwasher, please." Rachel repeated.

Quinn frowned. "...and?..."

Rachel shrugged. "And nothing."

Quinn shook her head. "I'm not falling for that. We both know how our relationship works. There's always a catch if we offer each other something."

"No catch," Rachel paused. "At the moment. However, if you don't load the dishwasher within the next ten minutes, I may change my mind." Quinn quickly loaded the dishwasher and then turned to Rachel. The brunette was in the same place she'd been five minutes before, her gaze annoyingly friendly.

Without a word, Quinn headed over to the door.

"Quinn," Rachel's voice stopped her at the doorway. "Sam's a great boy. I hope you two are happy together." She must be scheming. She was too nice. Even for Rachel.

"I hope you and Finn rot in hell," Quinn smiled sweetly- her tone kind, her words deadly. Two could play at this 'nice' game.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Rachel finally let go of her nice persona and rolled her eyes as Quinn walked out of the door. She'd found that being nice to Quinn actually infuriated the blonde more than almost anything else! Rachel was an actress but still, sometimes it was difficult to keep up the peaceful and loving charade. Today, for example! She didn't know why Quinn was ashamed to be going out with Sam- he was cute, on the football team and really sweet, she imagined he planned very romantic dates, and she'd kissed him once at Puck's end of year party when they were playing spin the bottle, he was excellent- but it would clearly upset Quinn if news got out that the two of them were dating. She wanted so badly to be the one to spread it, but in her heart Rachel knew that the truth would come out soon with or without her help, and revealing Quinn's secret to the school wouldn't truly be beneficial to Rachel herself in any way.

So she contented herself to grab her sparkly pink and gold phone and text her boyfriend- boyfriend! Rachel couldn't get enough of the word. Boyfriend. She had a boyfriend! A handsome, kind, loving, sweet BOYFRIEND!

_Hey babe. x_

_Rach_

She texted, waiting for a reply.

_Hey babe. What u up 2? xxx_

Finn replied, moments later.

_Not much. Day two of thirty one days of grounding. :( Can't wait until it's over and I can see you again. ;)_

Rachel refused to use text speak, but she thought it was cute when Finn did it.

_I'll c u skl on Mon, though_

Finn reminded her. Rachel's heart was hammering. She had another whole day before Monday!

_Maybe I could sneak out?_

_I thought ur sis was guarding u_

She giggled at Finn's text, despite herself, and then sighed aloud.

_Maybe I can work my way around my parents somehow._

It was only after she'd sent it and it was too late that Rachel realised what she'd typed; MY parent**_S_**. She was the worst daughter imaginable. Her mind didn't seem to be working but her feet carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. She didn't notice nor hear Quinn as her body through itself at her drawer and she threw her clothes to the floor. There was the picture of her mother, her father, Noah, Blaine and herself. Her mother was pregnant with Katy and didn't know it but she'd go into labour to give birth to the premature baby the very day after that photo was taken. Rachel had heard the story a thousand times.

Rachel wasn't aware of the heart-breaking sobs leaving her own mouth until she felt two warm pairs of arms around her. Katy was sat on her lap, her arms around Rachel, looking up at her big sister with her mouth open in an O of shock. Quinn had stopped hugging Rachel but still sat cross legged on the floor, her hand on Rachel's jean clad leg.

"K," Quinn whispered, her hand now slowly stroking circles on Rachel's back. "Could you go downstairs, please?"

Katy looked a little scared to leave as though she thought they might rip each other to shreds of she did, but even at eight she could see that Quinn was what Rachel needed right now, not her.

Katy shut the door, the noise resonating in Rachel's ears, and Quinn shuffled forward a little. Gently, she pried the photo out of Rachel's hands and inspected it. "Is this your Mom?" Quinn pointed and Rachel nodded. Quinn smiled. "She looks just like an older version of you."

"You're- you're insulting m-my d-d-dead m-m-mom now?" Rachel clutched at her heart. "Quinn, stop it! If you're not gonna help, just get out!"

"I wasn't insulting your mom!" Quinn dropped her voice when she realised how loud it had become, it was easy for her to get mad quickly when she was talking to Rachel.

"Maybe not directly," Rachel stuttered, her breaths short and laboured. "B-but you always call me ugly, and treasure trail, dwarf and man hands. If you say my m-m- she looks just like me then your insulting the most brave and wonderful person who ever lived in the entire world!" Rachel had used up all her breath in that short speech and collapsed against Quinn.

"Shh," Quinn soothed. All thoughts of which Cheerio wanted to steal her spot at the top of the pyramid had long since left her mind. When Rachel had calmed down a little and Quinn had planned what she wanted to say in a way that couldn't possibly be taken any other way than how she meant it, she told Rachel, "You might not be perfect, but no-one is. You think I don't have stuff I hate about myself? That's why I coat myself in make-up. Why I act like I'm not breaking down inside everytime I see my mom kiss Hiram, or Kurt and Blaine hanging out, or you and Finn together. Because I can tell, even if you can't, that you and Finn, and Blaine and Kurt, like my mom and your dad, have found true love.

And I sometimes think I never will."

"Quinn-"

"But my non-existent love life is not what I wanted to tell you about. I went off track. I wanted to tell you how you're a really pretty girl, Rachel, outside, and, quite often, inside. And I was just saying that you and your mom both have that look about you."

There was silence for a minute and then Rachel asked Quinn why she always insulted her, if she thought those things about her.

"You say them to me too," Quinn reminded her. "We're never gonna be best friends, but sisters fight." Rachel looked up.

"We're sisters?"

"Sure." She smiled a little and then, "Do you wanna tell me about your mom?" Quinn paused. "You don't have to. Only if you think it'll help."

Rachel thought about it for a moment. Should she? Of course she should. Quinn deserved it after opening up that much to Rachel.

"Well," She wasn't really sure how to begin, but Quinn gave her a minute and then Rachel started again.

_Rachel described how her mother had dreamed all her life of being a Broadway star. She'd done her time in college, in choruses, and finally she landed the part of Elphaba in Wicked. It was everything Shelby could have hoped for, but dreams change. She got the part of Elphaba at the age of twenty four, and the show was running the next year. At one of the performances, the critic went backstage to have an interview with her after the stunning performance. They hit it off and fell in love. He quit his job and she quit hers, and they got married at the end of the year. Hiram and Shelby moved to Lima, Ohio after their honeymoon. Hiram got a new job as a lawyer and Shelby decided to train to become a music teacher. The couple loved their little family of two, but they lived in a three bedroom house- they wanted kids! They tried for years but finally when they reached thirty one they decided to adopt. Noah. He was everything they could have hoped for, but they got the shock of their lives when a few months later they found out Shelby was pregnant, and with twins! But they loved Noah and would never give him away._

_Shelby and Hiram didn't want to find out the genders, but when they got another boy, who they named Blaine, as well as a girl, who they called Rachel Barbra, Shelby couldn't be more thrilled that they both loved singing._

_The parents managed very well to split their time between their three children, and Noah was a great big brother, thrilled when his siblings started to walk and talk. As they got older he played 'manly' games with Blaine and his father and spoilt Rachel rotten. Shelby took the twins to Broadway shows as soon as they got old enough to appreciate them, and, excited that they both adored performing arts, enrolled them both in singing and dancing classes. But she never forced them, they'd asked her about it, Rachel made sure to make clear._

Rachel was building up a portrait of a loving and compassionate woman, as well as an ex- Broadway star, Quinn realised.

_The Berry family had the perfect life- then came their surprise. At thirty eight, Shelby found out that she was pregnant again. They would have to buy a new house, their money would have to stretch further, the new baby might have to have some hand-me-downs. But they would be fine. And the long labour was worth it when the tiny, premature little girl arrived. She was weak, though. Everyone was terrified that if she didn't die there then she would sooner or later when she got even the slightest cold. But she was a fighter, like her mama, and she was just fine._

"I was eight when it happened-"

Quinn stopped her, "Rachel, it's okay. You don't have to tell me any more."

"No," Rachel pushed on. "I owe it to you."

"You owe me nothing," Quinn said, her hand in her stepsister's.

"Quinn," Rachel continued and Quinn fell silent.

_Their Aunt Holly was babysitting all four Berry kids, because both Hiram and Shelby were still at work._

_"I'm not a baby!" Rachel remembered Noah complaining, "I'm practically an adult."_

_"Well then, wanna help me make dinner, adult?" Aunt Holly asked. Noah shook his head violently. Holly chuckled, "I thought not."_

_Rachel was playing peek-a-boo with Katy while the boys played with the toys they always kept here, cars and train tracks mainly._

_Suddenly the phone rang._

_"Rachel, honey," Her Aunt's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Could you get that? I need to keep an eye on the pan so it doesn't boil over."_

_So Rachel ran over and picked the phone up, "hello," She said in the silly voice she usually used when answering the phone to her daddy- who she'd assumed this was- who usually phoned at about this time._

_"Is this Ms H Holiday?" Asked the somber voice on the other end._

_"Nope," Rachel replied, popping the p. "I'm her niece, Rachel. Aunt Holly's making dinner. Do you wanna leave a message with me?" There was a silence that stretched on for so long, Rachel thought the other person had hung up._

_"No, thank you. Is it at all possible to talk to your aunt? This is very important. Could you ask her for me, please?" Rachel nodded in reply and then realised the other person couldn't see her._

_"Okay, hold on a minute." She brought the phone down from her ear and tried to run into the kitchen, but Katy was grabbing onto her leg._

_"Lemme go," she attempted to shake Katy off but the little girl kept clinging on, giggling as if this were a game. "Aunt Holly!" She shouted eventually. "Can you come in here?"_

_Holly wandered in, her apron on. "What is it, Rachel? I'm making your dinner."_

_Continuing her attempt to shake her sister off, Rachel said "the lady on the phone said she needs to talk to you. She said it's very important." She held the phone out, and Holly took it, then hurried back into the kitchen, the phone held between her ear and shoulder._

_Rachel couldn't hear what her Aunt was saying but she did hear a smashing noise. Katy let go of her leg and all four kids went into the kitchen. Glass was scattered all over the floor and their aunt's face was pale._

_"What's wrong?" Blaine asked._

_Holly turned to them, she appeared to have only noticed they were there when Blaine spoke. "Get your shoes and coats on now."_

"Aunt Holly drove us to the hospital in absolute silence," Rachel's voice was oddly composed, but she sounded distant. "Puck wasn't playing computer games, Katy wasn't crying, we all just sat there in silence. We had no idea what had happened, we couldn't guess, but we knew it was bad. When we got there Blaine, Katy and I weren't even allowed in at first. We had to sit with this friendly, blonde nurse. She tried to engage Blaine and me in a conversation but we were both furious that they weren't telling us what was going on- they let Noah in! But then he came out, teary-eyed -Noah never cries- and suddenly we didn't want to go in. But we felt like we had to. So after Aunt Holly had come out as well, they let Blaine and I go in. We'd heard little bits of the conversation but we really had no clue what was going on. We didn't know who it was- let alone what had happened to them. So then when Blaine and I saw m-mo-her there, wires attached to her body, and Dad clutching at her hand, muttering to her. We both burst out crying. Dad didn't even seem to see or hear us. He just kept focussed on her, whispering to her about how much he loved h-her and how sh-sh-she could make it through. Sh-she died that night." Rachel couldn't say any more, she gladly collapsed onto Quinn after reliving that horrible night. It was impossible to put into words how wonderful and brave and loving her mother had been.

"My mom isn't trying to replace yours," Quinn said.

"I know." Rachel said.

"She just loves your dad," Quinn continued.

"I know," Rachel repeated.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7:**_

_**AN: Thanks for the reviews/faves/follows!**_

**_If you want to see the Regionals outfits there's a link at the top of my profile (under Life With Rachel- Regionals) which will take you to the outfit. :)_**

**_Enjoy the chapter._**

Mr Schue walked into the choir room at 3.40pm on a warm, March Wednesday, ten minutes late, as usual, and headed over to the whiteboard, writing 'Regionals' on it.

"Hey guys. Saturday after this one, we'll be at Regionals! Now I think our Sectionals went really great and it was wonderful to show off some new voices-"

"Oh, you is goin' down, Berry!" Santana whispered. "Mr Schue's finally realised ma megawatt star power and I'mma gonna get another solo!" Rachel just rolled her eyes at this little speech and focussed on the teacher.

Quinn's lips quirked up slightly, but she reverted to her HBIC expression as Santana's head turned to her and muttered "Oh, I will ends that dwarf."

Quinn tuned back into the regionals talk as Mr Schue said, "... time, we're going to have a solo, and then two group numbers."

"Could I go to the auditorium now to practise my solo, Mr Schuester?" Rachel asked, Quinn had to take deep breaths and remind herself that she and Rachel were no longer enemies at that annoying tone.

Will shifted onto his other foot under Rachel's stare. "Um, Rachel, we're going to be showcasing some different talents again-"

"But we did that at Sectionals!"

"And now we're letting the people who don't normally or didn't get solos at sectionals perform. So Tina, Artie, Puck, Mike and Brittany, you'll be the lead vocalists in the the group numbers, seeing as Santana, Blaine, Sam, Kurt and Mercedes all got solos at Sectionals and-" Will began but was once again interrupted.

In her outrage, Rachel grabbed her boyfriend's hand and pulled him up with her as she stood up from her seat, "MR SCHUESTER, Finn and I are the captains and the male and female lead vocalists and yet it seems like we never get to sing! Fair enough, at Sectionals, we were clearly going to beat that senior citizens choir and it was enough to tie with the Warblers- but only to tie! Now we're up against them AND Aural Intensity, who now have Coach Sylvestor as their advisor, so they're clearly going to cheat. The only way we're going to win is if we push our best players forwards and then-"

"Rachel, take a break." Mr Schue ordered. "Calm down, and then come back. We're DOING this my way, whether you like it or not."

Rachel stormed out of the room, with Finn following behind her after giving the glee club director an apologetic expression.

"So who's getting the solo, Mr Schue?" Mercedes asked, everyone leaning forward in their seats to hear his response.

"Quinn."

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"He said what?" Rachel was sat crossed legged on the pink sheets of her bed, her mouth wide open.

"He said I have the solo at Regionals." Quinn said, she was lying down on her stomach with a hand under her head to hold it up. "I'm so sorry, I honestly tried to convince him that you should have it, but he just kept going on about how you need to learn that you can't always get what you want."

Rachel covered her face with her hands and collapsed backwards onto the bed so she was lying down too.

"I mean," Quinn continued. "I get that he's trying to teach you a lesson, but he's risking New Directions losing- which is just incredibly selfish." Rachel nodded and started to explain how Mr Schue never listened to their ideas and once even forced them to sing disco and practically commit suicide, when Quinn interrupted her.

"Much as I really want to hear this, I have a date to get to."

"Ooh," Rachel teased. "Your date with Sa-ah-am!"

Quinn chuckled before heading over to her wardrobe, then pulling out a denim jacket and a pink cardigan, and holding them up against the purple flowery baby doll dress she was wearing. "Which one?"

"That one." Rachel pointed at the denim jacket. "Paired with that adorable dress, it says 'I'm a woman, but I'm also a lady."

Quinn giggled as she slipped the cardigan on."Did you just quote Marilyn Monroe?"

"Maybe." Rachel grinned. "I like being your sister, Quinn."

Quinn looked over as she put on her knee high brown boots, "Me too."

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Sam was a little nervous when he'd been sat at the table in Breadstix for five minutes and Quinn hadn't shown up- maybe she thought he was immature (he had taken her to Colour Me Mine for their first date) or had just ditched him to hang out with her friends and laugh about him- but he was probably overreacting, it had only been five minutes. After another couple of minutes, Sam's uneasiness had grown even more, and it wasn't helped by Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce wandering into the restaurant with their pinkies intertwined, even though this told him that Quinn wasn't with them. Maybe she was out with another guy!

Santana had immediately dropped Brittany's hand when she saw Sam, and the two of them wandered over.

"Hey Trouty mouth," She smirked. "On a date with yourself, well that is tragic."

Sam shook his head. "Actually, I have a date coming." Santana and Brittany both started to giggle, whipping their hair behind their backs in synch. "What?"

"I hate to tell you this," Santana began, then checked herself. "Well actually I'm quite enjoying it but anyway, oh, sweet, ignorant Lipsy McChapStick, but you been ditched."

Sam rolled his eyes. "I know you guys think I'm an idiot, but even I know you two are together." He winked and then ushered them away as he spotted Quinn. "Your secret's safe with me."

Santana and Brittany walked away without another word to a darkly lot table in the corner of the room. Sam waved Quinn over. She grinned when she saw him, wandered over, discreetly looked around to check no-one was watching, dropped a quick kiss on his forehead and then slid into the seat opposite his. "Hey, sorry I'm late. I was chatting to Rachel- she's still really mad about not getting to sing at Regionals."

Sam nodded, leaning forwards slightly, "I can see why she would be. No worries. I was just a bit worried you'd left me for some hot, older guy."

She shook her head. "Never, I like you just the way you are."

Sam smiled and then he waved a waitress over. After they'd ordered, and the over made-up waitress had finished flirting with Sam in front of Quinn (even at one point dropping something on the ground so she could get under the table and look up at him), Quinn sighed.

"Finally! Honestly, I should be the one worried about _you_ straying."

"What?" Sam took her hand, Quinn looking down at their joined hands a little nervously but relaxing a moment later.

"Well, you're hot." She shrugged, she couldn't find another way to put it. "That waitress was all over you, when she got under that table I honestly thought she was gonna climb up onto your lap, rip your shirt off and start grinding on you!" Sam chuckled. "And earlier today when I was waiting outside your geometry class for you to come out, I saw that brunette girl you were partnered with hanging off your every word. Her eyes were like 'OMG! THE Sam Evans is talking to me'" Sam once again burst out laughing but Quinn let go of his hand, looking furious. "Stop it! I'm being serious. You have no idea of the effect you have on girls."

Sam stopped laughing momentarily to trace his finger across her face until it reached her lips. "And you have no idea the effect you have on me, or any guy within a fifty mile radius!"

"Pasta carbonara for you, sir." The waitress smacked their food down on the table, causing both Sam and Quinn to jump. "And bolognese for you."

Quinn stared at the waitress as she marched away, fury evident on her expression, then she glanced down at her food. "I don't think we should eat this."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, his voice deadly serious. "She probably poisoned it."

**_~~Life With Rachel~~_**

Quinn had done horrible things to her, but then again, she'd been so nice to her recently. Rachel needed this solo; she was destined for a career on Broadway, and sure, she set aside two hours every day to rehearse her singing,but if she was never given any of the solos she rightfully deserved then she wouldn't be able to get any practise at singing in front of an audience! Who knew what type of problems that could lead to... Maybe she'd even develop stage fright! That was it; Rachel had to get that solo, no matter the consequences, and she had a few ideas.

**_~~Life With Rachel~~_**

It was 1pm on the day before Regionals and practise was well under way. For the Thursday and Friday last week they'd just practised the songs. Then on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday they all stayed an extra hour after school to practise their dancing and perfect the routines for the three songs. Today and yesterday they practised at lunch and then had an hour and a half after school as well. They had learnt it now and were just putting it all together; well, Quinn and the other soloists were putting the performance all together, Rachel and Finn were both on costume committee, sewing gold sequins onto dark green dresses.

"My hands are too big for this," Finn complained as he stabbed himself with his needle for the thirtieth time that minute. Of course, he would have done it anyway, but he was only doing it so many times because his gaze was fixated on his girlfriend. He was trying to figure out why Rachel wasn't going on a rampage and quitting Glee Club or something. In fact, her eyes were focussed on the dress she was working on and she would seem quite relaxed to anyone else, but Finn knew Rachel better than that. He could see the way her shoulders were raised slightly, the way she was tapping her foot just a little (so little that it was hardly noticeable). He lay his hand on her knee for a moment and it seemed to calm her so he went back to stabbing himself accidentally, keeping half an eye on her the whole time.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"You know what to do?" Rachel asked, her voice coming out muffled as she had her hand over her mouth and plastic gloves on too as an extra precaution- she couldn't get sick, not now.

"Of course." Lauren Zices nodded. "You'll pay me in gummy worms, Berry?"

"Here, have them!" Rachel held them out with her finger so she didn't touch Lauren and then gestured for her to hurry up.

Rachel poked her head around the doorframe as she watched Lauren walk up the cheerleaders, Quinn at the front of the group, with her hands on her hips and her high pony intact. She looked at her wits end as she shouted something at a freshman and then jumped down into the box splits and then straight back up again. All the cheerleaders parted with their hands over their mouth when they saw Lauren making her way over, but Quinn didn't see the brunette, until she spun around and was covered with germs as Lauren sneezed onto Quinn's face.

Rachel inhaled sharply, then turned her back on the whole horrible scene to head to English.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

It was 3.30pm on the day before Regionals and everyone was in a panic.

"What do you mean Quinn's sick?" Tina screeched. "She's the soloist!"

"It's really unfortunate, guys," Mr Schue admitted. "But I've spoken with the school nurse and she says Quinn has a case of the flu, which definitely will not clear up by tomorrow."

As everyone began to say how they were doomed, Rachel cut in. "Not necessarily. On Broadway, the star has an understudy, someone who will have been learning the routines and songs as well as she has, and will go on if she can't."

Blaine was nodding his agreement, but then he said, "Rach, this isn't Broadway. Quinn doesn't have an understudy-"

"But there is someone who knows the routine and song and could do it backwards," Rachel looked around waiting for someone to realise who she was talking about.

"Oh!" Realisation dawned on Brittany's face. "Santa!" Everyone turned to stare at her.

"I don't think that's who she meant," Artie said, and Rachel nodded.

Brittany looked genuinely shocked. "But Santa watches everyone. He'll know what to do."

"Is she being serious?" Blaine asked Kurt in a whisper.

His boyfriend shrugged. "With anyone else I'd say no, but with Brittany, you never know."

"Okay, enough messing about." Rachel ordered. "We only have one hour and twenty seven minutes! I mean ME!" Everyone looked fed up with her diva antics, so Rachel toned it down and tried to act sweet and upset. "Look, Quinn's my stepsister, and I really wanted for her to have a chance at a competition solo, but she can't because she's sick, and the show must go on! If anyone else knows the vocals AND choreography perfectly, then please feel free to step up and take over from Quinn." No-one spoke a word and after a few moments, Rachel walked up the steps into the auditorium (which they were practising in today) and told Brad the Piano Player to 'hit it'.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn was curled up in front of the TV, under a blanket, but she paused it and turned her head when she saw the door open. Rachel, Blaine, Puck, Katy, Hiram and her Mom walked through. "How did Regionals go?" She asked, her voice coming out croaky and speaking only making her head throb more. She felt boiling but her mother had instructed her to change into her warmest pyjamas and cover herself with the blankets.

"Horribly," Puck said and Blaine nodded, then the boys ran up the stairs, Katy, who'd not been allowed to stay with Quinn and had to come to the Regional championship, trailing behind them. Rachel hung her coat up and pulled off her shoes, revealing that she was still in her competition outfit, before wandering through to the living room to Quinn and sitting down next to her.

"So I'm guessing we lost?" Quinn groaned and Rachel nodded reluctantly.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Rachel didn't know what this feeling was- she'd never had it before. Her heart seemed to be pumping out of her chest, and she felt as if she were about to throw up, maybe she had caught Quinn's flu. All she had to do was get through this performance without throwing up on the audience, and then she could go and lie down on the sofa with Quinn and watch TV whilst eating soup and chocolate ice cream.

Hearing someone call her name, she turned, only to realise that it was Finn who had said her name a few times and was waiting for an answer.

"Huh?"

"I said 'do you feel all right?'" He put the back of his hand against her forehead to check for a temperature. "You look kind of green." When she didn't reply he continued, "you don't feel like you have a temperature, I guess it's just nerves."

Rachel was bewildered, "I'm sorry, nerves?" Finn chuckled and then pulled her close and held her against her chest.

"It's okay," He said in a soothing voice. "You always calm mine, so now I'll calm yours." But even Finn couldn't calm the butterflies in her stomach as she stepped onto the stage and, for the first time in her life, felt like she wanted to run off of it again immediately.

They'd written original songs for this competition and it just so happens that the one Rachel was about to sing completely encompassed how she felt.

_Rachel: What have I done?_

_I wish I could run_

_Away from this ship_

_Going under_

_Just trying to help_

_Hurt everyone else_

_Now I feel the weight of the world is_

_On my shoulders_

Rachel's voice jolted as she suddenly spotted Quinn. She was standing at the back of the hall, but the spotlight was on her so Rachel could see her, and she was giving Rachel a very disappointed look. Rachel was faintly aware of letting out a little scream, but she was more aware of the people's loud whispers about how unprofessional she was as she was hauled off the stage and passed over to her dad and Judy, who had rushed backstage as soon as she stopped singing. As Rachel sobbed the New Directions continued to sing 'Light Up the World' and 'Loser Like Me', but they all knew deep in their hearts that they could never win now.

**_~~Life With Rachel~~_**

She explained it vaguely to Quinn but just said that she got stage fright and not the reason why. Then she added, "In the end I got to sing the solo, and we still lost. Probably because there was so much guilt pumping through my veins about singing the song you worked so hard on."

Quinn shook her head. "Don't blame yourself, Rachel. It's not like it's your fault that some girl sneezed all over my face."

Rachel couldn't ignore that feeling inside her chest that had before been only gnawing softly but that was now eating her alive. Guilt. "Actually, I'm, it, uh, it sort of is my fault." And she found herself revealing how she'd given Lauren Zices gummy worms in exchange for her giving Quinn all of her germs, so that she could have the solo for herself. "I'm so sorry, Quinn!"

Quinn sighed. "No, you shouldn't be. This just evens us out. Me for locking you in the cupboard, you for paying the wrestling girl to give me the frickin flu."

Rachel shook her head. "Quinn! Stop being nice. I was completely out of line. What I did was horrible and unfair. Even if what you did was as well, you apologised and explained why you did it. I was just being utterly selfish."

"Well you just said you were sorry, Rachel. And why DID you do it?"

"Because I wanted a solo so badly, but it just, doesn't feel the same when you steal it, compared to when you actually earn it." Rachel explained. "I swear I'll never, ever, do anything like that again. To you, or anyone else either."

"Then let's just start again," Quinn held out her hand to Rachel as two proud parents watched from the doorway. "Hi, I'm Quinn."

Rachel smiled and they shook hands. "I'm Rachel."


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8:**_

_**Guest Replies**_

_**GLEEGirl: Thanks for the review. There's going to be some more Quinn and Rachel hate from this chapter, although they don't interact much this chapter. (Sorry about that, but they will be friendly again soon). I'm going to go on with this story until they finish their senior years, but I might do some time jumps. Then there's going to be an epilogue. So probably a couple more chapters for their Junior Year, then the same amount (ish) for their Senior Year + an epilogue.**_

It was spring break in the Berry-Fabray household, but Quinn was feeling down. A blonde, freshman cheerleader called Kitty Wilde had been catching Coach Sylvester's eye and Quinn was fearing for her Head Cheerio position, Glee Club had lost Regionals and so the club had nothing to do for the rest of the year but sing at nursing homes and homeless shelters, and to top it all off, Sam had been avoiding her lately. It had all put a bit of damper on the holiday. If she was being honest, despite pretending that she didn't need anyone, Quinn was really missing her old best friend, Harmony. Ever since they were ten years old, the two of them had gone on mini holidays together during spring break. At first their parents had gone camping with their girls, but the year they turned thirteen, the year her da- Russell left, Harmony managed to persuade Judy and her parents, Hannah and David, to let the two of them camp with their friends and not their parents, although only at a farm that their friend's cousin owned, so technically they were still under adult supervision.

Seeing as they would be sixteen and able to get their driving licenses, Quinn and Harmony were planning to go to a music festival that lasted a few nights, where they could camp. It was almost impossible to get tickets for, but Harmony had gone onto the website as soon as the tickets became available and gotten two. She was probably there with some other girl who'd stolen her best friend; not that Quinn could blame her. If the roles were reversed she wouldn't give up this opportunity.

"Quinn, are you decent?" Said Hiram's voice. It was only then that she realised that it was one in the afternoon, Rachel had gotten up at her usual ungodly time of 6am, and Quinn was still in her pyjamas with her hair in a top knot, feeling sorry for herself. She just pulled her cover up a little.

"Yep." Quinn replied.

After walking in, Hiram took in her ruffled appearance, before shutting the door behind him. He then sat down on the edge of Quinn's bed, slightly awkwardly patting her shoulder, "There's someone here to see you."

Quinn began to say how she wasn't really sure if she was in the mood, when her door burst open again and a girl with dark hair grinned. "What up bee-atch?"

"Harmony!" Quinn squealed, no longer caring that she looked like death itself as she ran into her best friend's arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to take you to that music festival we booked, duh!" Harmony explained, her voice as excited and slightly mocking as it had always been. "Did you really think I was going to abandon you in this hell-hole? Honestly, I've been in this town less than one day and I'm already bored!" At some point (Quinn wasn't sure when) Hiram had left the room, presumably when their voices became too high pitched for him to handle. Quinn was thankful though, she couldn't imagine him being pleased with Harmony calling Lima a 'hell-hole', though in all honesty it was, compared to Columbia at least. "Let's go Q!" Harmony started to pull her out of the door but Quinn yanked her arm back.

"Harms, I can't just run off without telling my pare-without telling my mom and Hiram!" Quinn said, she'd always been the realist out of the two of them.

"Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?" Quinn raised her eyebrows and then they burst out laughing, it felt like no time had passed and it was still sophomore year. Harmony continued," Your mom and stepdad have both already agreed, in fact they've been in on it for the past couple of months, they knew it was gonna be hard for you having to adapt to so many changes, so they thought this would be a nice surprise." Quinn was speechless. "Your bags are all packed and ready downstairs. All you need to do is change into something I won't die of embarrassment being seen with you in, and then we can go!" Quinn giggled again, then the two of them did their special handshake that they'd invented at nine years old.

"Amazing! Amazing! Yeah, we are so amazing! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, so amazing!" Harmony and Quinn sang together, both dropping into perfect box splits at the end of the song, Harmony jumping straight back up, spinning around, clapping and then doing jazz hands, with a chuckle.

"What was that?" Quinn asked suspiciously.

"Oh, Jess and I added it on." Harmony explained. Ouch.

"I didn't expect you to replace me so soon!" Quinn felt near tears at the thought of Harmony and Jess (the girl who'd been sucking up to them both a tonne as they moved up the popularity ladder, once even buying them chocolate frappes!) doing the best friend chant that she and Harmony had been doing for seven years.

"Quinn," Harmony put a hand on Quinn's shoulder but the blonde just shrugged it off. "Stop it! Yes, I've been hanging out with Jess, but what did you expect me to do when you moved? Stare at your photo? Skype you every hour? Don't tell me you haven't made new friends since you moved here," Quinn's mind flashed to a day in the library with Santana and Brittany, the two of them making her laugh so much the librarian ran over from the other side of the room to quieten them, dressing up in stilettos and tottering into the theatre to watch R-Rated horror movies and pick up older guys with them, how they helped her after her break up with Finn, feeling including and part of something much bigger than just herself performing at sectionals with the Glee Club.

"Of course I have," Quinn snapped. "But I haven't taken something that was OURS and changed it slightly so that it fits with my new friends."

"I'm sorry," Harmony murmured. "I didn't mean to upset you, I promise I'll stop doing it with Jess."

Quinn exhaled softly. "Okay." After that, Harmony went back downstairs to wait for her whilst Quinn changed into a blue and green crop top, and a green miniskirt, paired with blue heels, and then straightened her hair- all in record time.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Rachel had finished on her exercise machine, she could tell Quinn was awake, however the other girl had buried herself under her blankets. After a shower she changed into a black owl sweater and a red plaid miniskirt, before heading downstairs for breakfast.

She could smell the scent of vegan pancakes calling to her and heard muffled chatter in the kitchen, Judy's voice, Katy's, and then an unfamiliar one. Ducking her head into the family room on the way to the kitchen, she spotted Blaine sitting in front of the console by himself.

"Where's Puck?" She asked, it was unusual for either of her brothers to pass up the chance to go on the Xbox!

"Goggling at Quinn's hot brunette friend," Blaine answered with his eyes focussed on the game, as if that were the most everyday sentence in the world.

"Santana?" Rachel, now sat on the arm of the sofa, asked.

"Nope," Blaine replied. "Melody or something." She left her brother to his Super Mario, and walked through to the kitchen, pushing past Puck who was, as Blaine had described, leaning against the door starry eyed with his focus on a beautiful, laughing brunette.

The Girl had dark curling hair on her head and perfect dark curling lashes that couldn't possibly be real, light pink lipstick and perfectly spaced, white teeth. She was wearing a pink and purple minidress, paired with a denim waistcoat and purple suede boots. Rachel had been watching popular people all her life, and this girl was definitely one of them. You could tell by her beauty, her confidence, her ability to make everyone around her (except Rachel) like her.

Rachel cleared her throat obviously and both Judy and The Girl looked over to her. Katy, who was sat next to The Girl, just continued to eat her cornflakes. "I don't believe we've been introduced, I'm Rachel."

A look passed over The Girl's face that Rachel recognised from how Quinn used to look at her as a mixture of annoyance and disgust, but then The Girl grinned. "I know who you are- you're Quinn's other stepsister." She ruffled Katy's hair at this, the little Berry girl looking up at her like she was a perfect angel. "I'm Harmony, by the way. I'm Quinn's best friend from Columbia." Rachel stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, and then announced that she was going into the dining room seeing as there was only three seats around the breakfast bar in the kitchen, and Harmony was occupying the one she would have taken. Rachel didn't even think to ask why Harmony was in Lima, in her house, at 7am on a monday morning. She was much too occupied with wondering about why Quinn would want to be friends with this mean girl, then she reminded herself that Quinn hadn't always been kind to Rachel, maybe they were very similar, or at least had been.

Rachel could hear Judy and Harmony chatting as if they were old friends, the way she never would with Mercedes' mom, or even Finn and Kurt's parents. Rachel felt alone- again.

"Hi, honey." Her father sat down in the seat opposite from her and slid some vegan pancakes over to her. She smiled as her thanks, and then dug in. Once she had finished, she looked behind her dad and noticed some suitcases.

"Those aren't Hannah's are they?" Rachel couldn't hide the disgust in her voice, although Harmony was just next door and could probably hear her very well.

"They're not Harmony's, no." Hiram emphasised her name. "They're Quinn's."

"Where's Quinn going?" Asked Rachel, now she was even more confused.

"To a music festival with Harmony, they're going to leave this afternoon, and will get back here on Friday, early morning." Hiram explained.

Rachel would have thought that Quinn would have been talking about this for weeks, it was the sort of thing she herself would have gotten very excited about, but at her confusion, her dad explained that it was a surprise for Quinn.

Rachel gulped down some water before asking, "So why's she here so early." Her father told her that Harmony had driven down early in the morning and just arrived ten minutes or so ago, because she wanted to talk to Judy a little, and also to have some fun with Quinn before they left.

"Well that won't happen." Rachel said. "Quinn's all depressed- she didn't complain about the noise of my singing in the shower or my exercise machine this morning, she didn't want to talk, she just buried herself under her covers and moaned all night."

"Hopefully Harmony will cheer her up," Hiram suggested, kissing Rachel on the head before wandering through to the kitchen. With a sigh, Rachel stood up to go to the bathroom, but bumped headfirst into someone as she was standing up.

"Watch it, hobbit!" Harmony hissed. "Move out of my way." Wow, maybe she and Quinn had a lot in common- Harmony had used the nickname Quinn had used for her, up until they became civil with each other at least, without even talking to Quinn about her. Although, maybe the two girls had been talking lots, and Quinn had told Harmony all about her infuriating step-sister and- stop it! Rachel told herself. Just eat another pancake.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

The girls had just gotten into Harmony's car and started to drive when the brunette announced "guess what? Guess what? Guess what?"

Quinn smiled at her best friend's infectious happiness. "What?"

"I made head cheerleader after you left!" Harmony stopped herself, one eye on the road, one on Quinn. "I'm so sorry, that was really insensitive of me- I know that was going to be yours."

"No, no." Quinn argued. "It's great, I'm really proud of you Harms, anyway, I made head cheerleader here."

"You did?" Harmony grinned. "That's wonderful, so we're both on top of our respective heaps." It felt like if Quinn just closed her eyes, then she'd be back home in Columbia, at a sleepover at Harmony's house, nothing would have changed. But did she really want that? Lima was her home now and she had everything; love, friends, family.

"So how's life with the Lima Losers?" Harmony burst through her silent epiphany and Quinn shrugged, trying to act like she hated it so she wouldn't hurt Harmony's feelings.

"Alright, I guess." She said. "Life's just so much better and brighter and easier in Columbia."

Harmony nodded her agreement. "And then there's those Berry's." She made a gagging noise after the name and Quinn couldn't conceal the slight anger on her face.

"'Those Berry's' are my family."

"Woah, sorry Q," Harmony said, clearly not sorry. "I mean most of them are okay- that little one's pretty cute, and your stepdad seems nice, the one with the squirrel on his head was kind of creepy- he was staring at me all through breakfast- but he's hot so that makes up for it- I don't really have an opinion on the guy twin- he didn't do much of anything- but how do you stand the girl twin? I think she's the most obnoxious person I've ever had the displeasure to meet!"

Quinn frowned. "Leave Rachel alone, sure she's a bit annoying sometimes, but she's talented and nice and- talented..."

Harmony rolled her eyes. "Q, why don't you explain to me why you like her?"

At this, Quinn paused for thought. "Well," If she was being honest she wasn't sure why. "I guess, I sort of have to- I mean, she's my sister, kind of. And my pare- Mom and Hiram want me to. Plus, I did some horrible things and I'm trying to make up for them, although we're even now. I just-"

They'd been driving for a couple of hours by now and it was half past three, the time they'd decided to have lunch, so Harmony pulled into a service station.

"Hold up," She said as they parked up. "What do you mean by even?"

Quinn undid her seatbelt. Then she got out of the car and didn't answer until they'd locked it, headed into the service station, sat down at a table and gotten out the sandwiches her mom had made for the two of them. She explained about the drama project and locking Rachel in the cupboard so she'd fail and wouldn't get to perform with Finn, then how Finn dumped her and got together with Rachel, and finally Rachel's tactic of making Quinn sick so that Rachel would get the solo.

Harmony looked a little confused by the end of this explanation. "So let me get this straight, you did something mean to her WHILST the two of you were ENEMIES, then she stole your man, became your FRIEND, and as your 'friend', sabotaged you for her own selfish ends, and yet you still feel like you owe her?"

Quinn nodded. "That sounds about accurate."

"Oh, Q!" Harmony groaned dramatically. "She's playing off your niceness."

"What do you mean?"

"No-one else would forgive her for doing something like that, but she knows you forgive easily so she's purposefully doing these things, knowing that you won't get mad at her." Harmony elaborated. "Come on, Q, I just have what's best for you in mind."

Quinn sighed and took a bite into her sandwich so she had some time to think. "I guess," She said eventually.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"Hey, Ms F," Sat in the kitchen, Rachel heard the devil that was Harmony say cheerfully as she and Quinn re-entered the house on Friday.

"It's Mrs Berry now, sweetheart. And anyway, Harmony, if I've told you once I've told you a million times, it's Judy!" Judy grinned as she helped carry Quinn's bags back inside. After that Quinn and Harmony wandered into the kitchen as Judy took Quinn's bags upstairs.

"Hi, Quinn." Rachel smiled at her stepsister, ignoring Harmony. "How was your vacation?"

Quinn turned to Harmony and giggled, the two of them communicating with their eyes something that Rachel didn't understand. "It was great, RuPaul." Rachel did a double take- Quinn hadn't called her that in months. "So wonderful to be away from your man-stink for even a few days!" Harmony and Quinn high fived and then sat down at the breakfast bar beside her and started to talk to Rachel nicely as they heard footsteps.

"So what time do you have to go home, Harmony?" Judy asked as she wandered through to the kitchen, one hand holding Katy, the other an armful of washing.

"Oh, about now, unfortunately." Harmony said sadly. "It's been great to see you Ms F- Judy, and we should do this more often, Q. I missed you."

The two girls did their chant as Rachel looked on with a raised eyebrow, and then they hugged before Harmony headed home. As soon as she was out of the door, Quinn shouted "FAMILY MEETING!"

Everyone met up in the family room and once they were all there Quinn announced, "I'm seventeen years old and I refuse to share a room with HER!" She pointed in Rachel's direction, not even looking at the other girl.

"Not this again!" Puck complained and Blaine flopped back into the seat beside his twin.

"Quinnie, what's gotten into you?" Judy asked as she shot Rachel an apologetic glance. "I thought you two were friends now. What's Rachel done that's upset you so much?"

Rachel knew from the evil glint in Quinn's eyes that she was about to reveal what happened at Regionals, and to be fair, Rachel thought she deserved it.

"I don't feel comfortable living in a room with someone so underhanded and ambitious. I was trying to be nice, but I just can't take it anymore! She- she," Quinn turned on the waterworks. "Paid a girl at school who had flu to sneeze on me when I got the solo at Regionals so she could have it- that's how I got sick." Judy pulled Quinn into her chest for a hug as she sobbed and Hiram rounded on his eldest daughter.

"Rachel Barbra Berry, is this true?" He said.

"Yes," Rachel whispered. Blaine moved off the chair so he was further away from her, and Puck shot her a horrified look. Even Katy who'd been playing with her doll stared at her big sister in shock.

"Rachel!" Puck shouted. "That's the most horrible thing you've ever done. I don't blame Quinn for not wanting to share your room, if I were her I wouldn't even want to live in the same town as you."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed. "Being confident is a good thing, but your ambition is gonna be the death of you."

Rachel stared down at the floor as their hate engulfed her. Finally she looked up as Hiram gave the verdict.

"You won't be performing for four months. No Glee Club, no singing lessons, no dance lessons, no acting lessons. You can go to your summer camp because that's in August." Hiram declared grimly and Rachel's face went pale. Performing was her life. Not to get to do it at all until the end of July would probably kill her. "Instead you're going to spend the time you would performing, helping your stepmom with the housework and studying." Rachel burst into tears and ran up the stairs to her room. "I'm afraid we can't give you your own room, Quinn." Quinn looked up from her mother's chest now, her face a mixture of fury and despair. "We don't have a spare room, I'm sorry."

"Why don't you make Rachel sleep down here on the sofa as part of her punishment?" Quinn suggested.

"No," Judy shook her head. "We can't make Rachel sleep in the family room on the sofa. For one thing if we make her do this for the year and a half until she goes to college, that would probably count as child abuse."

"Well, until you can figure something out," Quinn got up, hurried upstairs, grabbed the bags she hadn't unpacked yet and then walked over to the door. "I'll be at Santana's."


	10. Chapter 9

_This is completely unfair._

_Rachel_

Rachel texted to Finn, boiling over with rage.

_I get were Q's comin 4rom x_

_Finn_

It took a moment for her to decipher the message, what with all its spelling and grammatical errors, but once she had Rachel was furious.

_Putting an x on the end of your message does not make it nice. I can't believe you! You're supposed to be on my side._

_Rachel_

After the message had gone through she threw her phone onto the bed. Hearing crying, Blaine poked his head around the door and after sighing reluctantly, walked over to Rachel's bed and hugged her.

"What's wrong now?"

"My life!" Rachel sighed dramatically. "Sure, before they got here my life wasn't perfect. I was bullied, I had a total of two frenemies- not even friends- and I was lonely. But all that time I had my passion to get me through life. Without my music, my acting, my dancing, what am I? I'm nothing! That's what I am! And to top it all off, now I have to live in a closet with a nine year old." No-one had expected her to, but Quinn had been staying at Santana's for the past month and refused to come home except to get more clothes. Judy had been distraught and the two parents had decided that things couldn't go on like this and so they would get a new house- they didn't have enough money to buy it outright but they could get a mortgage. Meanwhile, Quinn had been ordered back home and was staying in what had been both girls' room, while Rachel bunked with Katy in the smallest room in the house.

"At least she's not ordered the jocks to recommence with the slushies- although it's impossible to stop Karofsky." Rachel glowered as she wiped off some red ice from earlier that day out of her hair. "Why was she even born?"

"Well that's a bit harsh." Blaine said.

"Are you on my side or not?"

"Of course I'm on your side Rachel," Blaine snapped. "But I think you're over reacting. You're already a fourth of the way through your punishment, and you can still sing and dance- you just can't have singing or dancing lessons or go to your clubs. I think you need to learn that not everything can go your way!"

"I know that from the years of bullying. All I want is one thing to go right for me." She argued. Looking exhausted, Blaine sat down on Katy's currently unoccupied bed. "I realise that I deserve this- I'm just confused. Quinn said it was her fault and we should just start again and stuff. She was being so nice, I don't understand why she suddenly got mean again- wait!" Suddenly it came to her. "If happened when she got back from that music festival. Melody-"

"Harmony."

"Must have said something to her!"

"Family meeting!" Came a shout from downstairs. The twins exchanged a nervous glance and then headed down together. Quinn came in just after the two of them and sat as far away from Rachel as she possibly could, her mind going over what Harmony had said over Skype last night. "If you keep it up she'll eventually come begging for you to be nice to her."

"So what's this about?" Rachel asked. "I have a rehearsal- oh, no, wait, I don't. I have all day!" Quinn sent her a slightly agitated glance, like Rachel was a fly that was buzzing around her head and she couldn't quite swat her.

"We're not going to be buying a new house." Judy declared.

Quinn and Rachel both froze, then went into action.

"What? Why? Are you getting divorced instead?!"

"No! I'm not going to spend the next year and a half in Harry Potter's cupboard!"

"No, Quinn." Hiram said. "We're not getting divorced. But we do realise that we shocked you with this and it's been hard for all of you to adjust- Rachel and Quinn especially. However, no, we'll be staying together."

"We will not be buying a new house, because Puck here," Judy indicated her stepson. "Has got an acceptable attendance record this year, and he got his S.A.T results two weeks ago- which he neglected to tell us about!- and he's done well. So he won't be repeating his senior year again, and has decided to go to L.A to become a screenwriter!"

Puck mock bowed and everyone clapped hesitantly.

"While this is all wonderful, and we are all very proud that my brother is no longer a juvenile delinquent," Rachel said. "What does this have to do with us not moving house?"

"For an honours student," Quinn said. "You're not very smart. It's kind of obvious that my mom means you can have Puck's room when he leaves."

Rachel's eyes lit up then she ran around the room and started hugging everyone, even Quinn.

"It's gonna be a couple of months yet, Rachel." Puck reminded her, but she just grinned.

"I can wait that long."

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

"I can't wait this long!" Rachel complained at the dinner table. "How long has it been?"

"Two hours," Judy responded.

Quinn smiled slightly at her stepsister. She did miss her, but Quinn needed her own room and Rachel needed to learn that you have to work for forgiveness. Still...

So that evening when both girls were in the bathroom cleaning their teeth, Quinn spoke up. "Rachel, I miss being your sister, but you need to know that I don't forgive you yet, I'm not sure if I can. I want to though. So here's what you need to do, you have to earn back my trust, and I'll start being civil to you again." Rachel nodded her head as she spat out her mouthwash, that sounded fair.

Quinn texted Harmony about the new development, her friend didn't really seem to understand it, but she said that she was just glad Quinn was happy and didn't want anyone to take advantage of her kindness.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Rachel, thrilled to have been given another chance, really was trying her best to prove her trustworthiness to Quinn. She knew that she'd need to be kind, selfless, open, and keep commitments, but she wasn't quite sure how to prove this, so she spoke to Judy about it. Judy knew that this was partially hers and her husband's fault; they'd been blinded by their love. She wanted to set it right though, so when Rachel came to her, she gladly have her some ideas.

Judy knew Quinn was struggling a little in Spanish and that Rachel was excellent at this, so she suggested Rachel tutor Quinn and help her out. Judy then gave Rachel the idea of trying to be humble, to leave Quinn if she said she wanted to be alone and give her some space so she didn't appear clingy, but to talk to her if she needed someone. Next, Judy explained that occasionally asking questions would show Quinn that Rachel wasn't just interested in herself, that she cared and wanted to find out more about Quinn. She also said that Rachel should not try to rush things, but perhaps do one nice thing every day. She told the brunette girl how it was only natural to argue, but that the girls shouldn't let it get in the way of their friendship.

After thanking Judy, and writing down the many tips, Rachel started straight away. At first she just did things like compliment Quinn, then she 'just happened' to wander through the dining room (where Quinn was doing her homework) as the blonde girl had her head down on the table and was banging it against the table in despair.

Rachel slid into the chair opposite Quinn and asked what was wrong.

"Spanish!" Quinn moaned. "I understand almost everything else, and I feel like I understand Spanish too, but then when I get the test back and see grades like these," At this, Quinn waved her paper that said 'C-' in front of Rachel's face. "I just-" She stopped talking mid-sentence and lay her head down on the table again.

Now was the perfect time. "I could help you," Rachel suggested. "I have an A average in Spanish."

"You have an A average in everything," Quinn responded, her face still pressed against the table.

Rachel shook her head. "Not really, I don't understand Algebra II whatsoever!"

Quinn looked up from the desk. "But that's easy!"

"I think Spanish is easy!" Rachel countered. "Hey, why don't we just tutor each other?" Quinn quickly agreed and Rachel winked at Judy, who was watching on proudly.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

_So u'r tutoring each other?_

Rachel and Finn had made up that Monday after she explained she was feeling very stressed out. They then made out for a looooong time in the janitor's cupboard and had to run to their classes, hair dishevelled, as they heard the bell ring. That same evening, Rachel was sitting in one of the sun chairs in the back yard texting her boyfriend, as she'd finished all her homework, had also finished helping Judy with the housework and chopping vegetables, and had done some singing to her CD player to keep her instrument well-tuned.

_Yeah, like I said, I'm trying to get her to see she can trust me and see me as friend. My stepmom said that this would be a great way to do it. I'm also trying not to be too clingy though. _

_I'm v proud of u, Rach xoxo :*_

She smiled lazily and relaxed back into her chair- maybe this really was a good thing in disguise, like everyone kept saying.

"RACHEL!" Rachel turned her head and then shouted,

"I'm in the backyard!" A moment later, Quinn jogged out, holding her Spanish folder in front of her and still in her Cheerio's uniform after just having come back from practise.

"Do you reckon we could have a quick tutoring session now?" The blonde asked, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. "Santana, Britt and I were talking to Mr Schue this lunch and I think I spotted a pop quiz for tomorrow on his desk." Rachel nodded, moved her sunglasses up onto her head and gestured for Quinn to come sit down.

The two girls were in the same Spanish class so Rachel knew the vocab. "Okay, so I find the easiest way to learn languages is in a song!" Quinn put her head in her hands, but she was smiling. Rachel went onto YouTube and showed Quinn a video of a group singing a song about free time and activities. It was catchy and soon they'd both memorised it and put a dance to it as well.

"Okay, pop quiz!" Rachel announced. "Cantar?"

"To sing!" Quinn was beaming, clearly very proud.

"To shop?"

"Comprar! My favourite!" Quinn giggled.

"To talk on the phone?"

"Hablar por teléfono!" They went on for a while and then Quinn squealed happily and engulfed Rachel in a quick hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

Quinn got full marks in her Spanish test all thanks to Rachel. As soon as she got the result she texted her stepsister to tell her and Rachel was thrilled.

_Well done! I knew you could do it! Xx_

Her life finally seemed to be sorting itself out; she and Rachel were getting alone, she had Harmony back, she was on top- as she jogged into Cheerio's practise a few minutes late, Quinn froze. Kitty Wilde was on top of the pyramid, in QUINN'S PLACE!

"Sloppy work!" Coach Sylvester shouted, that at least moved Quinn out of her trance. Kitty had climbed down now and both blonde girls were stood in front of the coach.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Coach." Quinn apologised, shooting Kitty a death glare. "I was talking to Mr Shuester about my-"

"I really don't care!" Her coach said. "Anyone else would be out but you show a lot of promise, Q. So I'll give you three chances, if this happens again you can stay on the squad but Kitty here will take over as Head Cheerleader." Kitty smiled a devil's smile, flashing her teeth like fangs. "Once more after that and you're off. FULL STOP. Got it?" Quinn nodded and then ran over to quickly warm up before she led the others in teaching them the new routine.

"You should know," Quinn jumped at the hissing tone at her shoulder as she stretched. "I WILL be on top of that pyramid by next year. I'm only fifteen next month, but everyone knows not to mess with me Fabray. You're old news- getting closer to past your sell-by-date- I'm the future." She spun around and marched off, her hair whipping Quinn in the process.

Furious, Quinn stood up and ran over to the others. "In position, now! Whoever has not perfected their double flip into box splits in the next two minutes is off the squad!" As the girls hastily began to do as she was saying, Kitty cried out as she did only a flip and a half before tumbling onto the floor, and Quinn's lips quirked up slightly at the corners.

_**~~Life With Rachel~~**_

That evening, all the others were in their bedrooms, so Quinn crept downstairs where Judy and Hiram were still watching TV. She knocked politely and then half stepped onto the room.

"Yes, Quinn?" Judy asked.

"I think you guys were a bit harsh on Rachel."

The parents exchanged a glance. "Y'do?" Hiram asked and Quinn nodded.

"I've had some time to cool off now and while I think Rachel definitely deserved to be punished, she's been really great recently." She turned to her mother. "I mean, Mom, everything's been happening way faster with Rachel helping you, and she helped me get full marks in my Spanish pop quiz, you know how I hate Spanish!"

"So what do you suggest Quinnie?" Judy questioned her after taking a sip from her wineglass and leaning back against her husband.

"I think she's been grounded for long enough, and maybe only two more months of no performing, although it does seem to be doing her good to explore new hobbies." Judy and Hiram seemed to be having a silent conversation.

"Okay," Hiram said. "Deal."

_**A/N: Next chapter will be the start of senior year!**_

_**By the way, I've got a new story out called Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- it's basically an AU fic where Rachel's best friends with Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Finn, Mike and Sam, but it starts when they're five years old and goes on until their senior year! Hope you give that a go and I'll update this again hopefully next Sunday!**_


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